A Land of Cold Hearts
by Sherlock D Holmes
Summary: Naruto never asked for this... creature. He never asked to be marked as the vessel of a genocidal beast. What he definitely didn't ask for was to be tormented for a large part of his childhood for something that even he wasn't responsible for. That's why he snapped.
1. Prologue: A Cold Evening Sun

**Synopsis:** Naruto never asked for this... creature. He never asked to be marked as the vessel of a genocidal beast. What he definitely didn't ask for was to be tormented for a large part of his childhood for something that even he wasn't responsible for. That's why he snapped.

To become a hokage? That's merely a part of his plan. What he plans is to rid his village of the human filth that tormented him for so long. A reform, where blood shall be plenty, and deaths common.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: Honestly, even if I didn't put this disclaimer on, would I still get sued for making a fanfiction about Naruto? I don't even receive money, nearly all characters in this fic are the intellectual property of Kishi, and hell, the quality is even lower! Saying that I don't own Naruto is like a crippled, eighty-year-old paralyzed saying that he's not competing for gold in long distance running, scratch that, long distance _anything._**

Prologue

 _A cold evening sun sets on an even colder land, inhabited_

 _by even colder people, committing the coldest deeds_

 _"...Seek nothing outside of yourself"_

 _-Miyamoto Mushashi, Ronin-turned-author_

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The blond boy sat perched on top of the fourth hokage's face sculpted on the mountain. It was no surprise. This was his favorite place to be, during his favorite time of the day.

Dusk.

Watching the sun set, turning the village increasingly dark as homeowners and people who drive businesses turn on their kerosene lamps was extremely mesmerizing to the boy. It was almost therapeutic. One of the only things that the boy could enjoy without anyone ogling him as though he was a degenerate. At any rate, the boy was tranquil. He was peaceful, and his mind was at peace. He knew, of course, that it wouldn't last.

* * *

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* * *

The boy didn't know when it started. All he knew was that the village hated him. He had done nothing to deserve such treatment, that much he knew. It didn't matter for any of the village's citizens. He would be treated equally bad to all of them, except the third hokage, Hiruzen Saurtobi. The only living being to ever have shown him even an iota of kindness.

For every foul deed the boy was a victim of, every misfortune that comes his way, and every insult thrown at him, he felt a darkness fill his heart. It continued on for years, well before he was even old enough to join the academy.

Scars filled his body from top to bottom, scars from whenever anyone felt the need to assault the boy. It wasn't that often, but it happened at least once a month. Despite all this harm that keeps coming to him, his childlike innocent waned only by inches.

That was until he killed a man.

Four men, drunk after a day of hard labor, found the boy on a stroll and decided that they'd have some fun with him. Three of them rushed him, picking him up with relative ease. They restrained the boy, who was hardly six years old. The fourth man took a swig from his sake bottle before bashing it over the boy's head. The blond screamed in pain, but none had heard him. Blood covered the boy's face as he could hardly see. The man threw the broken bottle down and proceeded to punch the boy in the gut, and afterwards, tearing his shirt off, exposing his stomach, and as a result, the spiralled seal that held the nine-tails.

"Lookey-herey, boys! I reckon we stab this kid to death, that cursed fox'll kick the bucket with 'im, huh?!" he slurred between hiccups. The man pulled out a short pocket knife and held it with both hands. The blond caught a glimpse of the knife before panicking.

The man pushed downwards, but as the knife grew ever-closer to the boy's stomach, it went slower and slower, until it was at a standstill. It wasn't only the knife that froze. Everything froze. Suddenly, the boy's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

* * *

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* * *

The boy woke up on a floor board. He stood up and looked around at the humongous room he was in. It was dark but was lit up dimly by torches hanging on the impossibly large walls. Ahead of him were bars that were ridiculously huge, as the blond could as well just walk right between them. He approached the bars, but as the darkness that was beyond cleared little by little, he spotted an orange wall. As he continued onwards, the wall took on a more definite shape.

His observation was cut short as the wall suddenly moved and obscured its original pattern, causing the boy to jump. As he closed in on the bars, the orange shape took on a more definite shape. The boy now knew that that was no wall.

It was a gigantic fox with more tails than he could count.

The fox, sensing the boy's arrival, opened its eyes. The fox was shocked, however, and turned to look at the boy with pure rage in its eyes.

"What is the meaning of this? What have you come here for?!" it bellowed, shocking the boy to no end, not knowing that the creature could even talk.

"I-I don't know! Some men... they attacked me! One was about to stab me... but... I fainted, I think... where am I?" asked the boy, shivering in fear. The fox was very much thankful for this opportunity. He needed to break loose as quickly as possible. His Jinchuriki was extremely young and immature, not to mention ignorant. He could take advantage of this and have the boy free him, himself. He calmed down again and took on a more formal approach.

"Greetings, son of Minato. I expect that what you seek from me is power?" he asked, attempting a kinder approach. The boy was even more puzzled. _Son of Minato?_ He knew nothing of what the fox was spouting and expressed himself as such.

"Whu-who is Minato? Who are you? And... I never asked anything of you..." he added the last part on reflex. He grew up in a childhood where trusting and receiving help from strangers turned out to be a punishment in itself. The fox sighed, but tried to explain.

"You are the son of the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. Before his death, he sealed me into you. In your time of need, you can draw strength from me if you release me," he then said, but paradoxically, he raised more questions than answers. The boy could hardly swallow everything. "Tell me, though. What is your name, and what is disturbing you?" he asked, attempting his damnedest not to sound intimidating.

"My name is N-Naruto Uzumaki. Like I said... some thugs attacked me, and one tried to kill me, look," he said, trying to point at his wounds, but quickly realising that they weren't there, as though they never were, to begin with.

"Naruto, huh? I will help you get rid of your assailants, but afterwards, you'll have to release me. Utter these words: "I hereby release the nine-tailed fox" as you channel chakra to your seal on your stomach," he then explained. Naruto was even more puzzled at this for he had not learned how to do such a thing yet. He had barely begun learning in the academy, and chakra control wasn't until far later. The fox, sensing the boy's ignorance, sighed once again, asking the boy to come close to him. The boy approached the bars, warily, before one of the beast's tails burst out of the bars. The tip of the tail touched the boy's forehead, thus transferring the required knowledge to the boy.

He breathed heavily, trying to digest the moment. He had just learned years worth of chakra control in the span of a second, and it was too disorienting for him. It took him a minute before he could properly stand. The boy then nodded in understanding.

"Naruto, my boy. Do you swear that you will release me if I help you?" he asked. The boy nodded, to which the fox roared in glee.

"Focus your energy on your mind and rouse yourself awake. I will aid you, so do not worry," the said the beast. Naruto sat down on a half lotus and began to focus. He then lost consciousness once again and awoke right where he left off, face bloodied and about to die.

Right before a red shroud of a gaseous substance began emitting from the boy's skin. Upon the knife's contact with the boy's belly, the blade shattered.

The boy shook his restrainers off of him, throwing them far away, breaking their bones in the process. The man in front of Naruto was shivering, a pool of liquid forming below his belt area. Naruto growled before appearing in front of the man in a split second, his hand digging straight through the man's chest. The boy pulled his hand out as he gripped a chunk of meat. What became more and more apparent was the fact that the chunk of meat was actually the man's heart. The now possessed boy threw the heart at its owner, who had already fallen from shock, and eventually died.

Naruto was stumbling. The chakra infused in every inch of his body was becoming irritating. Almost... corrosive. What he did know was that it wasn't a good feeling, and he was bent on getting rid of it. He focused his chakra and meditated once again, trying to expel the excess chakra as peacefully as possible.

"F-f...fox... make it... stop," he whimpered, squinting his eyes in pain. What he didn't expect was a reply, sounding from his head. Naruto, however, was relieved of all of the excess chakra energies once the fox stopped supplying him.

"Uzumaki. Release me," it requested. Almost as a shock came the request. He had almost forgotten that he made a deal with the creature. Although he did make a deal with the creature, he couldn't just release it. With this beast living within him, Naruto felt special. He felt powerful. He felt like this could turn the tide. He could prove useful to his village and they'd accept him. They'd stop bullying him. They'd stop hurting him and making him cry. He couldn't pass off this opportunity.

"No, I'm sorry, I just can't," he replied, simply and shortly. It took courage, but he did so. He wanted to harness the beast's power and become a hokage that way, and it certainly couldn't end here.

There was silence. The silence continued on in an almost disconcerting manner. For minutes on end, the fox refused to reply. Then, a grumble led to a howl which grew in intensity until Naruto could no longer concentrate.

"NARUTO UZUMAKI, YOU ARE A LIAR! I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS!" it yelled. On an on and on, it continued, scaring the blond nearly half to death. He had still sat there, in the same place where a dead man lay, and three other men who were too injured to even move. Naruto crawled into a ball and cried. He cried even after the ANBU arrived, together with Lord Third.

The fire shadow spat some orders to the ANBU, evidently to get rid of the dead man's corpse, and to send the injured to the hospital. He approached the crestfallen Naruto and patted his head.

"Now now, son, I'll take you to my office and we'll have some tea. While we're doing that, tell me what happened," he then said, carrying Naruto as though he was an infant, and then proceeded to jump off, towards his office.

* * *

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* * *

"Now... tell me everything which had transpired earlier," asked Lord Third, in that ever-eloquent grandfatherly manner of his, as he filled his pipe with tobacco, and then lit it.

Naruto calmed down when the hokage had placed a calming seal on him, effectively shutting up the lamentations of the chakra beast within him.

"Lord hokage... I was... I was just taking a stroll... when a group of men saw me. They were drunk when they saw me. I didn't see them, but three of them just... picked me up. They held my arms and legs and-and I couldn't move. The fourth guy pulled a knife but just before he stabbed me..." the boy had stopped there, trying to brace himself for the next part of the story. "I was in this room... with a giant orange fox..." he continued, telling him the hokage the things he had heard, concerning the fourth hokage and his alleged lineage. After summarizing everything, the boy concluded.

"When I woke up, I could hardly control myself. I felt... strong... yet... so weak, like my limbs weren't even mine. The man who stabbed me... is he alright?" the boy asked. He hadn't been in his senses when he took the man's life, and because of this, had no knowledge of the man's demise, ultimately caused by himself. Lord Third simply sighed before replying.

"I'm afraid he is no longer with us..." he said.

Naruto could hardly believe what he heard. All sorts of things ran through his mind, but he couldn't deny it. It was true. He started to remember the sensation of blood and muscle wrapping around his arm. He was clean, though, as the nine-tailed chakra served to repel the blood.

"Do not fret, my boy. It wasn't you. You cannot be held accountable for the doings of that beast. Take it from me, you-" his speech was cut short by Naruto as his curiosity got the better of him.

"Is this why the village hates me? Is this why I get beaten up every now and then? Because of this thing?" he asked, the tone of his voice shaking with unbearable grief. The hokage was speechless, unable to reply adequately. He did make an attempt, nevertheless.

"Do people... harm you?" he asked, a scowl forming between his eyes, as thick and as solid as though a stonemason had chiseled it. Naruto picked up the hokage's chakra signature with his newly learnt chakra control, gathering that the man was currently all but composed of rage. Naruto took the opportunity and stood up, removing his shirt, exposing his scars and former wounds. That was the final straw for the old man, whose ire couldn't intensify any harder.

The Lord Third crushed the pipe he held, pulverizing it within his palms. He hammered down on his desk with his fist, completely demolishing it. Naruto was caught off-guard by his sudden outburst. The Lord Third was completely shocked. How could he have let such a thing occur within his village? He summoned all his might such that he could once again retain his normal level-headedness.

"How long has this been a common occurrence," he asked, attempting to contain the ire in his voice, but failing miserably. Naruto thought for a moment before replying.

"I guess it started when I was... 5," he concluded. Naruto wasn't impressed by the rage the Lord Third was showing. He was, to no end, simply disappointed.

"Lord third... where have you been all this time?" he asked. There was no sadness or anger in his voice. Just disappointment. All this time Naruto has been expected to make due in the local orphanage. At the age of six, he requested to live in his own apartment, but the government could only afford a shabby one-roomer in the slums. Whatever the case, the hokage had always been too busy for the young blond.

The hokage was unresponsive. He had lost so much face at the moment, and he could hardly bear the guilt. Here was a boy that he once took charge of, standing shirtless exposing countless scars that only soldiers were expected to have. He was thinking of ways to amend himself, but few were outside the scope of a possible self-immolation.

"Come on, gramps," prompted Naruto almost silently. He was completely devoid of feelings at the moment. All he wanted were answers. "Come on gramps," he asked again, this time, more audibly.

"Come on, gramps, come on!" he yelled, the outburst having no effect on the old man's concentration. After a minute of silence, the man looks up, yelling animal names.

"Tiger, bear, bird!" he yelled, and in the blink of an eye, three masked men appeared, carrying masks appropriate to their names.

"From now on, your full-time jobs will be watching over Naruto. Anyone that dares lay a hand on him will be punished by me, personally," he ordered. Naruto only observed wordlessly.

"Naruto, no one will ever lay a hand on you again, now. Don't you worry, child," he offered, but Naruto wasn't giving an inch.

"Gramps... you think it'll be okay now? After everything, I've gone through?" asked the blond, his voice breaking with sadness. The hokage was unable to respond to that.

"I'll ask one last time. Where have you been all this time?" he asked once again. The hokage spoke up, his voice muffled with shame.

"I wasn't aware of your plight," he said. In all honesty, he wasn't aware that Naruto was being bothered this much. Naruto wasn't satisfied, though. As though the old man read the child's mind, he continued. "All this time, I've been immersed in international affairs. I've been doing all I could to ensure that a fourth shinobi war won't break out. I know you probably can't forgive me for..." he paused before saying the aching word. "neglecting you. I know that, son. I can never forgive myself for that, either," he paused one last time.

"I'll try from now on. You're like a grandson to me," he concluded. Naruto, despite the display of emotion, was still distraught. And now with all of the revelations that occurred, he was more so. He had been tormented ever since his birth, and for something that he wasn't responsible for.

Something he wasn't responsible for _at all._

Something even he suffers from.

All this time, he's been tormented for something he wasn't even responsible for at all. The more it played inside his head, the more he realized, the more the knew, how twisted everything was. How corrupt his village was.

A tear ran down his cheek at the thought of it. A tear was joined by plenty more as his face couldn't hide his emotions. He wasn't just sad. He was grief-stricken. He was disgusted. He was angry. He was confused. It pained the Lord Third even more at the sight of seeing his ward this distraught.

"Naruto..." he stopped himself before telling the blond to calm himself.

The faces of everyone that had ever looked at him with disgust. Called him names. The people who've called him a monster. The people who have kicked him out of their shops for simply being inside there. The people who've beaten the child up. Their faces kept on swirling inside of Naruto's mind.

It was the million dollar question, truly. _Why is everyone so mean to me?_ To get an answer like that. It devastated the boy to no ends. After the bout of crying that lasted for five minutes, he had requested to be taken home, to which one ANBU appeared and carried him to his apartment. There, he ate his ramen supper. However, in the middle of eating it, he had another outburst. He threw the bowl on the floor, shattering it and spilling noodles and soup all over the floorboard.

He was shaking with anger. He now had a dream. An ambition. A plan. To become the hokage, and eventually, cleanse this disgusting cesspool of a village.

He swore upon himself. He would purge this village of filth.

The plan was simple. Become strong, pass through the academy with flying colors, gain traction as a genin and pass the chunin exam. From there on, it was a quick leap to jonin before he could get elected as a Hokage due to his superior strength.

Nothing was stopping him. His solution felt sound. It was, after all, in his own eyes, the lesser evil, other than allowing such filth to proliferate.


	2. Chapter 1: The Planned Encounter

**A/N:** Edited because I felt that Naruto was being way too edgy when threatening Sakura.

 **Synopsis:** Naruto never asked for this... creature. He never asked to be marked as the vessel of a genocidal beast. What he definitely didn't ask for was to be tormented for a large part of his childhood for something that even he wasn't responsible for. That's why he snapped.

To become a Hokage? That's merely a part of his plan. What he plans is to rid his village of the human filth that tormented him for so long. A reform, where blood shall be plenty, and deaths common.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I refuse to believe that I will literally get sued for, get this, writing a Naruto fanfic and not plastering a disclaimer. I refuse to! I absolutely refuse to believe that. Although there have been times where my favorite authors just suddenly up and vanished, and coincidentally they never put disclaimers in their stories. Maybe... they did get sued, and were told to abandon their profiles... but if that's true... then I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto Masashi... and stuff I dunno.**

 _Chapter 1_

 _The Plan Which Has Been In Effect The Longest Is Bound_

 _To Someday Bear Fruit_

"Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance, but later proceed

to feed him the dirt of loss"

-Sun Tzu, Chinese war-time general

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Naruto listened intently to the academy instructor, Iruka, as he went through the outline of the final exam one last time, trying his best to prepare the students for the exam lest his teacher's evaluation gets dirtied by any of the classes lowest common multiples.

Naruto, however, wasn't planning on passing the exam with flying colors. He had the plan to follow, and sadly, it involved having him pass barely, just barely, so that he could be put in the same squad as his target.

Uchiha Sasuke.

"And one last time. If you haven't practiced on your Clone Jutsu, you might as well repeat the entire year, alright? It's the heaviest-weighed part of the entire exam!" emphasized the instructor, Iruka. Naruto knew everything there was to know about chakra control, thanks to Kurama. If he knew how to create hundreds of clones, he could definitely create a single corrupt specimen.

Naruto yawned for the fourth time in that hour. He checked the wall clock which read eleven fifty-seven. Only three more minutes until the exam began, and he'd be damned if his plan was stunted by some random factor randomly flown into the equation.

"And don't even think about last minute revision. If you haven't already been studying for the past month, then there's no point in beginning now," he added, dryly. Naruto rolled his eyes. He knew that there'd be at least one or two civilian children who would fail, and it could all be blamed on not being diligent enough.

It's honestly not even a shame. If you can't even ace an exam, you could never become a proper shinobi. That's just common sense. The clock struck, alarming the instructors to hand out the papers. There were three parts of the exam. A written test, a taijutsu practice and the ninjutsu test. Naruto only had to ace the written test and the taijutsu practice and disregard the ninjutsu practice wholly. A single conjured sickly clone and he'll be getting a grade that's barely passable.

The taijutsu practice was an opportunity for Naruto, though. He needed to become known as a strong shinobi. He needed to amass a following early on for him to ever consider himself becoming a Hokage in the future. Among the people that were dedicated to him was the heir to the bestial clan of Inuzuka, Kiba Inuzuka. They both fought once before, a few years back. Naruto beat the boy severely after a disagreement they had. Kiba had expressed his wish to become the strongest shinobi. Naruto overheard him and had promptly corrected him, saying something along the lines of 'that can't be. I'm gonna become the Hokage,'. Kiba took offense to this and had officially declared that they fight, there and then, to which Naruto agreed. Afterward, Naruto defeated the boy almost effortlessly, hardly drawing any power from the nine-tails in the process. Ever since, Kiba's been his close friend, and most likely, the first member of his team.

Others were Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and maybe Hinata Hyuuga. The team, however, hadn't been created yet. Naruto was simply in the process of gathering strong and loyal friends.

His childish aspiration so many years ago hadn't waned, and neither had his thirst for blood and vengeance on the people of Konoha as a whole. Only that his law as a Hokage wouldn't be as bloody as he had wished for it to be so many years ago.

Naruto was an idealist and not the naïve kind that believes that you don't have to break eggs to create an omelet. He knew that the only path to peace was one stained with blood. He wanted a peaceful village filled with love and mutual compassion, and he was willing to kill anyone in his way. Hell, he could even fight the Hokage on equal terms if he draws out the nine-tailed demon spirit's power. That wasn't Naruto's style, though. He needed to ascend peacefully. Can't have anyone question his ways so early on in his career as a Hokage.

Anyhow, the taijutsu examination was a good way to show how he was by leaps and bounds more capable of all of his colleagues. Besides, there were none who have had anything resembling Naruto's ridiculous chakra reserve, courtesy of the nine-tails, in his class anyways. All Naruto had to do was make a flashy show for everyone. Play with his adversaries. Leap and dodge around for a while, before landing a solid hit. Then he'd stand still to parry a hit from his adversary, making it seem as though it was significantly easy. All he had to do was show who was the strongest in the academy, and in doing so, hopefully, attract onlookers.

* * *

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* * *

The written test was of exceptional ease to Naruto. The questions were only what they'd been taught, and Naruto was hardly a slacker. He simply recounted what he'd been taught and applied it as such, thereby most likely acing the exam altogether. He knew he got 100%, full marks. Now it was time for the taijutsu practice.

Up first were Kiba Inuzuka and his dog versus Choji Akimichi. Naruto knew who'd win, and it wouldn't be the overweight foodie. The Inuzuka had the speed, strength, and the tactics to defeat Choji, albeit with effort. Choji wasn't a normal fighter. He was like a mountain. He endured. It was a pain to anyone Kiba's size, but Kiba had the tactics and tenacity. When it came to that matchup, it was only a matter of time before the dog-enthusiast Kiba and his dog won.

The second matchup would be Naruto Uzumaki versus a civilian born student known as Yobirin Suzu. Yobirin was of no real significance, and it was shown as such when Naruto began the match, making his first strike also his last strike. He had made an effort not to put much chakra into it, but just enough to put him to sleep.

The only one that clapped for Naruto's victory was the heir to the Hyuga clan, Hinata. The rest simply acknowledged him while the twin harpies, Ino and Sakura grunted at him. They had both developed a distaste for the boy, and quite frankly, it hardly bothered Naruto. As long as they weren't in his way, he was fine with them.

The next matchup was Shikamaru Nara vs Ino Yamanaka. Although Shikamaru retains a genius like few others, he was hardly any useful in taijutsu practices. Ino, on the other hand, was almost always driven by adrenaline. It didn't take a genius to know that the Yamanaka would mop the floor with Nara's hairstyle.

The fourth matchup excited Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki versus the ever-smooth and suede Sasuke Uchiha of the Uchiha clan, considered number 1 in the class, definitely due to the fact that Naruto had to keep a low profile so that his plan could gear properly, allowing all the cogs to fall into order.

Naruto stepped up, hands in his pockets, and a generally laid-back attitude. Sasuke, however, regarded his adversary with a little more importance. The Uchiha was no fool. He knew that Naruto wasn't someone to underestimate, and because of this, he'd been taking the fight seriously before it even started.

"Begin!" cried the instructor, Mizuki. Sasuke stared Naruto down for a good five seconds before lunging at him with a faint punch. Naruto saw through the charade and charged forward with a linear punch, to which Sasuke dodged in the nick of time. He tried an axe-kick, to which Naruto stopped one of the boy's legs mid-air with one hand, and a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. Sasuke panicked momentarily before using his other leg to push himself off of Naruto, back flipping off of him and landing gracefully, to which the twin harpies in the background gasped.

Sasuke lunged again, now returning with a barrage of punches, kicks, and all sorts of techniques, to which Naruto used his chakra-empowered body to dodge and leap, making it seem as though Sasuke was completely slow.

It was time for the reality-check, now.

The reality-check was a technique he developed, in which he would momentarily boost his speed greatly. The moment an opponent was to hit him, he would side-step before the hit reached him, then step back into the path of the hit. Although it was rather self-destructive as the full brunt of the hit was still received, it served more to prove a point like "I am so fast, I dodged, then returned to the same spot just to let you hit me". So far, he'd only done that once, during a taijutsu practice, but once his sparring partner had refused to continue sparring with him because the blond scared him, he'd simply stopped using it, lest he loses all chances of sparring with anyone.

Sasuke came in for a pretty straightforward punch. Naruto followed the steps. Side-step before the punch had come close, tap on the Uchiha's shoulder to get his attention, then zoom back into the path of the punch. The Uchiha's eyes were priceless as hopelessness washed over him. Naruto still took the punch, sending himself skidding across the floor, but recovering as quickly as he fell. Although most of the class laughed, only Sasuke saw what the blond enigma had pulled off. Naruto dashed forwards before ending the fight in one chakra-enforced punch to the head, careful not to cause permanent damage. And with that, the match was set.

As expected came howls of approval from the young Inuzuka. Choji simply clapped while the twin harpies were simply about to spontaneously combust.

Upon arriving at the area in which the spectators stayed, Naruto was greeted with the fire of the twin harpies, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Both attempted to punch Naruto side to side, to which he simply stepped forwards, out of the trajectory of each punch, letting the girls hit each other. Naruto then continued on to approach Sasuke who was sitting with an icepack over his head.

"Sasuke..." he said, alerting the young Uchiha of his presence. "It was a fine match, wasn't it?" the boy asked, hoping to gain a positive response from the stoic boy. The Uchiha grunted in approval, almost stubbornly. Naruto didn't have to go completely crazy with the socializing now, as he knew that he'd be on the same team as Sasuke anyhow, due to his poor grades. Although the third member, who would most likely be a Kunoichi, a female ninja. It didn't leave too many options. It would most likely be either Hinata or Sakura. Naruto wouldn't mind Hinata. In fact, he enjoyed that a person like Hinata existed. She was one of the only people in existence that actually, unconditionally enjoyed the boy's company, other than the Hokage. That's it.

The rest of the exam was a breeze. He was told to perform a clone Jutsu, to which he did, but only that the clone was a sickly copy of him, laying slouched on the ground, lifeless and unable to move or breath. He calculated that his score would definitely be passable, but only the bare minimum. He needed to be as low as possible so that Sasuke could be selected in the same team as him.

Naruto needed men. He needed strong and loyal men. The most notable person was Sasuke. He understood Sasuke's pain. The pain of having no one. Of being alone. He also knew that he needed Sasuke in whatever group he planned on starting. Whatever the case, Sasuke wasn't the type to flock the most charismatic and natural leader. He would only swear allegiance to someone he knew and respected on a personal level. Naruto knew this, and he knew that to get to Sasuke the easiest, he'd need to be in the boy's squad, first. Now that the graduation exams were over, he only had to wait for a week before all of the test scores were tallied and the forehead protectors were distributed.

* * *

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* * *

The graduation ceremony had just begun, and as expected, Naruto received a forehead protector. It wasn't as though he was surprised or anything. It was carefully planned by him, anyhow. As planned, he landed a spot with Sasuke... and Sakura. The blond could feel a twinge of annoyance in that he'd be on the same team as her. He had no interest in having her become a follower of his. She was weak, hot-headed, and not suited to even be a kunoichi. All in all, the girl was, in Naruto's eyes, useless. Naruto was about to approach Sasuke, sitting while resting his chin on both his hands, when the white-haired partner of Iruka, Mizuki intercepted the boy. Naruto groaned, but put up with it all the same.

"Ah, Naruto, how are you doing?" asked the silver-haired teacher Mizuki. Naruto looked up at the man's face, analyzing. He could tell that the man had ulterior motives, but chose to simply entertain his charade for the time being. Naruto grinned warmly at the man and replied.

"Good, good, sensei. How are you doing?" he asked. He was still waiting patiently for the man to show his cards.

"Ah, I'm fine, Naruto. Although I'd wager you'd need some... extra credit, right?" he suggested, as he held up Naruto's result sheet. Naruto simply grinned apologetically as he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, ah, oh that... I've passed, so I guess I can do without it," replied the blond, trying to make the conversation go as normally as possible.

"Ah, I see. Anyhow, I have got an exercise for you, something only you can do, if you'd wish to boost your grade by a few notches," suggested Mizuki. Naruto really wasn't interested, but he was interested in the notion of something only he could do, so he agreed. He decided to follow the man to wherever he suggested during the late hours of the evening, well after the graduation ceremony.

Naruto showed up at eight o' clock, together with a camouflaged Mizuki.

"Alright, Naruto, the plan's simple. Steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, and learn a technique from it. It's located behind the Hokage's office," he stated as he pointed at an area in the map he had laid over the floor. "Are you sure you're able to do this?" asked Mizuki. Naruto quickly caught on to the illicit nature of his test, but hardly showed it.

"W-wait... isn't this... wrong?" asked Naruto, to which Mizuki twitched in annoyance. He shook his head before explaining falsely.

"Of course not. I've gotten the Hokage's approval. You'll be good to go-" his reply was cut short when Naruto interrupted once again.

"Tiger, Bear, Bird! Don't interfere with this. He's mine," yelled Naruto to the greenery, where the three ANBU who'd been guarding him since his early childhood most likely were. "As for you, Mizuki," purposefully omitting the honorific word 'sensei'. "What sort of fool do you take me for?" he asked, neck cracking as he bent it. Mizuki then became on-guard, raising his kunai.

"Oh, I'd thought that picking you would be tough. You're not stupid, but everyone in the village already hates you," he revealed his intention, but Naruto didn't budge. A red shroud covered him as he stood still. "It'd be so easy to pin it all on you, you know. Nobody would have suspected I was lying," he said, trying to make Naruto mad.

"Oh, Mizuki. If only you knew... how many people who are against me... how many who have lied to me... your life has ended," said the boy. From the lower end of his spine seeped three tails. Naruto knew it'd be overkill, but he was too fired up to stop himself. Mizuki could only take on a disgusted facial expression before Naruto dashed forwards, using his fingers, enhanced with claws from the tailed beast chakra, to decapitate Mizuki. Mizuki barely had a single second to react to all of this. A few seconds afterward, Naruto dispelled the red chakra and the three ANBU appeared before him.

Wordlessly, they picked up the chunin's corpse and took off, presumably to cover up the entire affair as an accident. Naruto, however, still needed to cool off. He'd become really agitated just then, and needed a form of stress-relief.

Luckily, he was at the forested outskirts of the leaf village. Moderately sure that there were hardly anyone in the vicinity, he began to let his wrath out on the environment. He began by clawing a log, rooting his claws into it, then proceeded to pull the log up, throwing it into the distance. He dashed towards another tree, ripping it in half as he clawed it horizontally. He did this continuously, effectively managing to clear an entire area of tall trees. He was careful to contain the destruction at a set area, in case he'd come in contact with anyone.

The destruction continued on for about an hour, before a figure appeared closely by, behind him. Naruto didn't need to turn around to know who arrived. Besides, a Hokage's presence didn't require any eyes to sense.

"Whaddya want, gramps?" asked Naruto, the red chakra finally dissipating. The Hokage brought his favorite pipe. Between puffs, he spoke.

"I... heard what happened. Do you wish to talk about it?" he asked. The man had, after that day seven years ago, taken great lengths in making time to interact with the boy. Naruto, however, snorted.

"No," he replied. The Hokage simply nodded as he looked at the ground, thinking. He looked up before continuing.

"You disposed of the traitor, and with no injuries to yourself... it's impressive, my boy, but I know you'd like to talk about it," he persisted. The Hokage was fully briefed and knew what transpired earlier.

"Hn, what's there to talk about? He tried using me, but you know how the old saying goes. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me..." he sighed. "...thousands of times... shame on me," he finished. "He was like the rest, you know. Don't get me wrong, he was a traitor, but beyond that, he still saw me as a menace..." he said. The Hokage, with a sage-like patience, sat down as he listened to the boy.

"Oh, and if you came here to stop me from potentially releasing the nine-tails..." he started, before turning around, looking straight at the Hokage. "...I made him my bitch years ago and you know that. I'd never do something that stupid," he assured. The Hokage had to intervene at this point.

"Don't be silly. If anything, at this moment you'd never release the nine-tails. I know you. You'll continue fighting til the break of dawn, and if you must, past even that," encouraged the Hokage. "But... it's just not healthy. You can't just over-encumber yourself with all this emotional stress!" he advised.

"You don't get it, gramps. This village... I'm done putting up with it... I know I've already told you, but I will change this village. Whether I have to become a Hokage or even..." he paused to gather courage. "...kill you! I can't forget the way I was treated. Asking me to do that, its-its like... asking me to throw my identity away," he said. The Hokage paused for half a minute before his reply came.

"You are nobler than you think, Naruto. Your soul... it's so beautiful, so pure. I know I can't change you myself, but please. Heed my words. Discard the hatred from your heart. It'll only worsen over time. Learn to forgive, my son,"

Naruto looked at the ground, eyes wide, and wild. Bad memories and thoughts rushed through his head. His face went numb as there was hardly any blood there in the first place. His hands were completely limp. This was the type of rage he experienced. A type where he seemingly relinquished ownership of his body. He had to focus not to kill the closest person to him, and it was extremely tough. After a short amount of time, he then said one last thing to the Hokage before leaving.

"I'll show you, gramps. I'll turn this fucked up village around. Once I rise to power, there won't be a single fucking ant getting alienated and bullied. I'll make this village the best in the world," he looked up, straight at the Hokage. "And I'm not above disposing trash to make it happen,"

* * *

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* * *

A week had passed, and Naruto had done nothing but study his fellow genin. He had, as planned, received the Forehead Protector, but had graduated as the dead-last. Whatever the case, he was announced to be in Sasuke's squad, along with the pink harpy, Sakura. It was of little consequence. Naruto wasn't above setting Sakura straight lest she attempts any sort of insubordinate behavior. Naruto knew well enough that it would come to that, and honestly, he was waiting for it. He's always had a strong distaste for the Haruno. At any rate, they were still in the academy building, waiting for their jonin sensei, Kakashi Hatake. Naruto had studied most of the old man Lord Third's files and had made himself very familiar with various different and not-to-mention top secret information. Kakashi of the Sharingan, the copy ninja. Famed to have copied around one thousand Jutsu. The old man certainly didn't settle for having a weakling train the boy, and as such, had assigned to him the strongest Jonin he had that was currently available. Naruto wasn't flattered, however.

"Ugh, when is this guy even coming! we've waited for, like, an hour," lamented Sakura. Naruto honestly didn't mind the latency. He was simply sleeping through it all, while Sasuke was in deep thought like he was most of the time. This had piqued Naruto's curiosity a bit and prompted him to investigate.

"Hey, Sasuke. What're ya thinking about?" he asked, not really expecting any kind of real reply, but just tried warming up to his future comrade. Sasuke simply shrugged and grunted in an affirmative tone, completely missing the boy's question, most likely due to his inattention.

"Sasuke-kun has no obligation to answer that to you of all people, Naruto," spat Sakura. Naruto didn't react. He was simply deciding upon the intensity of her conditioning. Through the past week, Naruto, in the event that Sakura was going to become his team member, had researched her family and childhood friends closely, gleaning a ton of information that could be used to scare her. Sakura would be scared shitless of the young boy, and as long as the team could function properly with a non-disturbing weak link, they could get by without much difficulty.

Naruto, however, hardly expected that Sasuke spoke out in honor of him.

"Sakura, you are barely a hundredth of the shinobi that Naruto is. I suggest you shut up until Kakashi-sensei arrives," he said, coldly, to which Sakura simply looked down, almost distraught, similar to his own face, years ago. A twinge of anger rose up inside of the boy, though. Not at Sasuke, for chiding the girl.

It was at Sakura. Naruto could hardly recall the number of times he fell into depression and despair, he barely had the strength to eat or the will to live. Here Sakura sat, sulking over a boy because he simply told her the truth. That face signified emotional trauma. What she experienced can't even be called emotional trauma if it was divisible by a hundred. The more Naruto thought about it, the angrier he got, but he contained it all the same. Right now wasn't Sakura's time.

* * *

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* * *

"Hi, my name is Kakashi Hatake and I'll be the sensei of team 7," he introduced himself gleefully. The looked very enigmatic, only showing his right eye, hiding his left one behind his forehead protector, and he covered his mouth completely. For a jonin, he really didn't care about his general appearance or the way he conducted himself, adopting a rather devil-may-care attitude on life. Naruto supposed that's what happens when one has become completely jaded, having seen all sorts of danger, living through all sorts of horrible things. That still didn't excuse him from coming late.

"You're late," noted both Naruto and Sasuke at the same time.

"I'm so sorry, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take a longer way," he said, using an excuse so stale, it almost made Naruto lose his composure.

"Do you underestimate us, sensei?" asked Naruto, visibly annoyed if his twitching grin was no indication. The jonin thought for a few seconds before replying.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," he said, to which Naruto simply gave up on pursuing the matter any further, realizing that it was a pointless disagreement anyways. The jonin continued on.

"Alright, students. Follow me outside. We'll be introducing ourselves to strengthen our bonds," he explained briefly, and afterward, he simply went outside. The rest followed him. A few minutes later after enduring a cripplingly slow walking pace, they stopped at a few benches where Kakashi sat down.

"Go on, have a seat," he prompted. The students then sat on the bench opposite his own.

"Alright, let's introduce ourselves. Our names, our likes, and dislikes, or wishes for the future," he suggested, to which Sakura went first.

"Oh, I'll go first! My name is Sakura Haruno, I like..." she stopped as she giggled while looking at Sasuke. "I dislike Naruto! And my wish for the future..." she stopped once again and looked at Sasuke while giggling. Sasuke simply scoffed. Naruto went next.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like when my plans go as expected. I dislike this village. And my wish for the future... to change this village. Of course, I'll have to become the Hokage first." he revealed in such a matter-of-fact tone of voice, to which Sasuke opened a single eye, looking at Naruto inquiringly as he crossed his arms. Sasuke was then to introduce himself.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. My likes and dislikes don't matter. I don't have a wish, but an ambition, because I'm going to make it come true. I want to kill a certain man," he revealed, letting an ice-cold chill surround him. Naruto knew who he was talking about. After all, who didn't know of the perpetrator of the Uchiha massacre, Itachi Uchiha? Naruto admired the boy's resolve.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake. My wishes for the future don't matter, and neither do my dislikes. And... none of you are old enough to hear what I like," he revealed, ticking Sakura off with his half-assed introduction.

"Tomorrow will be a team-building examination," announced the teacher, to which Sakura's anger intensified. "Remember not to eat any breakfast... lest you vomit it up," he added. Sakura jumped at the visual.

"Wait... didn't we already pass the graduation exam? Why's there another examination?" she asked, quite puzzled, to which the silver-haired teacher replied.

"Only two-thirds of the people that pass the graduation exam ever become real genin. As a ninja, you are expected to be able to cooperate in groups of three. Failure to do so will give you a one-way ticket back to the academy. No exceptions," he announced, throwing Sakura into a fit.

"I can't cooperate with Naruto! This is... bullshit!" she cursed. Even Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the girl's sudden burst of profanity. Naruto, however, simply ignored her. As the teacher left the premise, Naruto had one last thing to announce to his friends.

"Sakura, Sasuke!" he yelled. Sasuke was hardly that far away, but he made an effort such that Sakura heard him. They both turned around facing him. "Eat your breakfasts! You need to be at your strongest for us to have a chance at passing," he announced. Sasuke grunted in the affirmative. Sakura, however, actually nodded, but had her own reply.

"Well, duh! He was just being sarcastic, Naruto. Honestly, you're slow!" she yelled back.

* * *

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* * *

Team 7 arrived shortly at the training field where the sensei briefed the three on what their mission was. They were to take the bells from the man's waist. There were only two bells, signifying that one was guaranteed to be sent back home. Regardless, Kakashi began the exercise.

Immediately upon beginning, the blond called out for both Sakura and Sasuke, who had rushed to me as quickly as possible.

"Sakura, in case you didn't know. Sensei's employing a ruse to drive a wedge between us. He even said that this exercise was in team building. He has no intention of sending one back, so I suggest that we work together from now and-" Naruto was abruptly cut off by an irate Sakura.

"Naruto, where do you get off thinking that you're the boss of us?! Dammit, if the teacher said one of us are going back, one of us are going back!" she yelled, completely disregarding Naruto's advice, to which he felt his stomach bubble in rage. It was that feeling he commonly got whenever someone looked at him the wrong way. According to some scrolls he once read, it's known as dormant killing intent, and if Naruto had applied chakra into it, he would have produced a legitimate wave of killing intent.

Naruto straightened his back and bent his fingers, cracking all his joints. He was hardly able to contain himself, but Sakura hardly knew better as she still wore that ridiculous hostile attitude. Sasuke, sensing the true fire behind Naruto's glare, intervened.

"Honestly, Sakura, shut up!" he said, to which Sakura again began to sulk, throwing Naruto even further into a pit of rage. Shaking his head a little, he regained some of his composure and had thus begun to formulate the plan once again, from where sakura had cut him off. Sasuke was to act like the main source of offense, blowing as many fireballs as he could at the jonin with his fireball Jutsu. Naruto would attempt to confuse Kakashi with an array of clones while Sakura was to ambush the jonin once he was completely immersed in both the boys' distractions.

As everyone digested the plan, they then deployed it. Kakashi had remained patiently in the central of the training field, reading his erotic novel as he was waiting.

Sasuke ducked out of a tree and began the fire blasts. He could only manage a few per minute due to his limited chakra reserve, so the task of distraction lay largely upon the blond.

Naruto spawned a grand total of fifty clones, which had all began jumping around the jonin, causing him to involuntarily flinch occasionally, but it only went that far. The jonin began hacking through the clones with his kunai, careful of the fireballs which were getting closer and closer, with the amount of Narutos keeping him busy. It was only a few minutes into this diversion tactic before the pink-haired girl had victoriously emerged with the bells, plucked from beneath the man's vision.

"I got it! Sasuke-kun, I got it!" she yelled celebratorily. The silver-haired jonin was surprised that they had managed to take the bells using such a rudimentary strategy.

"Oh, and in case he does send one of us to the academy, here, Sasuke-kun," she said as she gave the boy one of the bells. Although this didn't really bother Naruto, it did bother Sasuke. To the point where he chose to speak up.

"Sakura. Can I see your bell?" he asked, to which Sakura handed it over without a second thought. The boy, however, tossed it back towards Naruto, which he caught mid-air. Sakura was visibly confused as to what was going on.

"Oh, please, Sakura. If there's anyone that deserves to go back to the academy, it's not Naruto," he said. In truth, there was no one in that team that deserved to go back. Everyone served a purpose and helped the team reach their ultimate goal, which was to get the bells.

"You're right, Sasuke. In fact, no one will be sent to the academy. I have passed you all," he said, to which Naruto hardly even reacted. He had it all called beforehand. Sasuke was simply relieved, but Sakura was torn between emotions. She didn't know what to feel and stayed unresponsive for a little while.

"And to think I'd hardly have to go any further than with the bells. This team sure is impressive," he comments. "Alright, we're done here anyways. Team dismissed," he just says, abruptly ending the exercise. Naruto grinned barely. He knew that the team would succeed, but the feeling he gets whenever his plan goes... well, just as planned. He usually likes to liken it to feeling like a god on earth. The team then dispersed, all following their own paths home.

The team then dispersed, all following their own paths home.

Naruto, however, had a task on his hands. Once he knew that he was out of Sakura and the rest of his team's vicinity, he took it upon himself to jump atop of a rooftop. It was late in the afternoon and it was closing into dusk. He'd already memorized Sakura's route home and knew where she'd be going. There was a segment of her route that took her to a somewhat abandoned street that only lasted for a single block. The moment she had passed halfway through that block, Naruto appeared right before her. Sakura tensed immediately, reaching for her kunai, before she realized that it was Naruto, to which she groaned, exasperated.

"Whaddya want, dead-last? Hurry it up, I'm in a bad mood" she warned, condescendingly. Naruto simply walked straight forwards, and when he was around six feet close to her, he pulled out his Kunai and lunged at her, holding it closely to her throat.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura... I don't think you understand this situation at all," whispered Naruto. Sakura yelped, careful not to make too much noise, lest she gets injured by the seemingly unstable blonde. "I don't think you know..." he let his sentence hang for a moment. "How much I fucking despise you," he concluded, to which Sakura began sweating profusely.

"L-let... me go," she managed to groan. Naruto simply strengthened his hold of her and brought the kunai closer, forcing her to face upwards lest she got cut.

"I also don't think you understand the gravity of the situation," he added. Naruto was neither grinning nor was he frowning. "Just an errant twitch of my wrist, and you'd be bleeding all over me. Maybe send your thigh to misses Mebuki for her to cook, or send your head to mister Kizashi?" he continued, name-dropping both her parents. "Oh, I'd wager they'd never recover from something that shocking... or-or I'd kill them first, then you, after playing with their corpses, of course," he added. Sakura was devoid of hope, her eyes as open as they could be. Tears cascaded down her cheeks. Naruto wasn't finished yet.

"Sakura Haruno. Do NOT get in my way. And 'Sasuke-kun'? Yeah, don't even sully his reputation. As if he'd ever go out with a try-hard fangirl like you," he stated, to which she simply closed her eyes in horror. "You make me... SICK" he stated once again. He sighed, letting his grip fall. He then raised the girl with a grip to her collar, allowing her to stand. He then patted her back, trying to dust her. Her legs were visibly shivering and she could hardly dare to move.

"Listen, Sakura. I'm not above killing you if I wanted. I'm actually not. Besides," he paused. "What would you expect from an 'orphan who's never had any parents to teach him manners'?" he then said, letting the quote hang. She flinched at it, her face twisting and contorting into the expression of pure fear, topped with despair to make it count.

She had said that to Sasuke earlier about Naruto, while they were waiting for Kakashi. Naruto had gone to relieve himself at the toilet. When he returned, he heard Sakura mouth it off. Naruto endured many things, but anything addressing his lack of parents was a no-flying zone. Eventually, he had calmed himself down, getting rid of all the dormant killing intent.

"Remember, though. Not a single word of this to anyone. And that means anyone. No one is to know of this entire encounter," he said, to which she simply nodded slowly. Naruto sighed again, before continuing. "Dry your eyes. Shake this... experience off. Don't forget anything I've said today, though,". She nodded again, slower.

A job well done, the blond simply used a body flicker technique to warp out of the general area. He was now home-bound. Taking a quick stop at the Konoha park, a hangout he frequented where he met with friends. Using a body flicker technique, he warped atop the nearest roof to the park. From there, he could spot his friends, lying there.

Coincidentally, the Konoha park was Shikamaru Nara's favorite cloud-watching spot, and as the old saying went, where there's a Shikamaru, a Choji was definitely nearby. The two were almost inseparable anyhow. Kiba Inuzuka also frequented the place, usually so he could be around Naruto.

"Oi, Naruto! How was the exercise?" asked Kiba as he spotted Naruto. With a wave of his hand, he replied.

"Ah, no biggie. However, the pink harpy was giving us a hard time," he revealed, to which Kiba started laughing at the nickname that they'd given her a while back. Shikamaru simply snorted, having experienced something similar. Naruto jumped towards Shikamaru, rolling before lying next to him, arms tucked beneath his head.

"Hmph, the yellow harpy wasn't any better, ya know. I'm telling ya that chick just can't function in a team. She's batshit crazy," he replied. Naruto, however, couldn't disagree more. Choji, however, mumbled something about not talking behind people's backs.

"I'd give my left testicle to have Ino in my team. At least she's moderately strong. Sakura has the chakra reserve of an ant," he rebutted, which raised Shikamaru's eyebrow.

"You guys are doing ninjutsu exercises this early?" he asked, to which Naruto was prompted to clarify.

"Nah, it's just that her presence barely registers. Come on, man. Aren't you also a sensor type?" asked Naruto, to which the dark-haired boy clicked his tongue, signifying that the answer was in the negative.

"I ain't good with chakra," he said. "Takes too much training... what a drag," there came his catch-phrase. Naruto casually poked fun at it whenever it appeared.

"Oh, so we're saying 'what a drag' today?" he asked.

"You're too troublesome," he replied.

"Both catch-phrases in one day? Is it my birthday?" he asked sarcastically. It continued that way for the rest of the afternoon. Until Shikamaru had left along with Choji, the Inuzuka had shortly taken his leave, too. Naruto had then gone home but stopped to pick up groceries.

Throughout the years, Naruto had emotionally stabilized. He didn't tend to get moody quickly, nor did the nine-tails torment him anymore. He was nine when he befriended the nine-tails, and since then, the boy's been practically unbeatable to his peers.

Naruto did, occasionally, experience outbursts, where he'd cause serious destruction. Despite his unstable nature and practically godlike power, the deaths he'd inflicted could only be counted on one hand. Either way, whenever he'd come to kill, any rumor would be immediately curbed and the whole situation would be isolated within minutes of it transpiring. Having constant ANBU surveillance definitely helped the situation.

Naruto had already lost remorse for killing the first time he did it. The first time he had invoked the power of the stupendous chakra beast residing within him. He knew that he'd have to spill blood.

This was the first thing that ushered him into a large amount of his time spent inside the Hokage's secret library, learning restricted history and top-secret information regarding the village only a few days after the incident that occurred, which nearly led to the release of the nine-tails yet again. The more he studied, the more he realized how cold the world was. If there was any childlike sense of sunshine left in his soul, it rapidly decreased in magnitude the more the boy began to teach himself the ways of the world.

A world where only the good die young.

* * *

 **A/N: I've decided to keep a glossary in case some of y'all need it (I highly doubt it)**

Hokage: (literally meaning:) Fire shadow. The leader of the village hidden in the leaves  
Konoha: The leaf village. The general setting of the story  
NinJutsu: ninja technique.  
Taijutsu: hand to hand combat  
Lord Third: The third Hokage, namely Hiruzen Sarutobi (they said that in ultimate ninja storm 3, anyways. I'm just sticking to that since saying 'sandaime' just fucks with the flow of the story.

* * *

Also, can I just do a mini-rant? If not, just skip the next linebreak :)

WEEB LANGUAGE! What the feck is with that? Whenever I read a new Naruto story, I find my eyes invaded with cancers that is "Kami dammit!". "Oi sasuke you teme!". "Naruto you're such a dobe!" "USURATONKACHI-BACHI-HEIHACHI SACHI SACHI ARIGATO SUMIMASEN GOMENASAI-SAMALAMADINGDONG" "NARUTO-KUNSANSENPAIII" "OI TEME; NANDESOREYOO, BAKA? OMAE WA MOU SHINDEIRU" It's spiralling into a point where literally half the fucking fic is in de-facto imperial Japanese! Pull out your fucking dictionaries cuz at this rate, we'll actually have to learn Japanese to make sense of this shit.

Honestly, do you see me putting swahili in my fucking fic? Why would I? The fic is mainly in english, so why use different languages?

Come the fuck on, we've got english for a reason! I'm not about to read a story that has no regards for the language it's written in, to top it off, they use the term 'teme' wrong. It's supposed to be used as an insulting form of "you". Kinda like an old man shaking a stick at a bunch of delinquents stepping on his lawn.

"Yewwww". That's when you can use teme.

"Oi, temee". It's not an actual word you can just throw around. Even if, it's still not a word you can use in an english story. And that reminds me. I'm sorry for using the word jutsu here and there. It's just that that word is already so iconic, it might as well be used here, just like the word Hokage, rather than fire shadow, which sounds kinda clunky.

There. I just made a lecture on how to use weeb diction when I expressly told not to use it at all. Damn, I'm being such a(n oxy)moron. BADUM TSSSS (pls laugh)

(Well, the joke is this, rye? An oxymoron is a contradictory statement. The contradictory part was when I taught on how to use weeb language when I was against it. And I'm an oxymoron because if I divide oxymoron in two bits, we get oxy and moron. oxy has no meaning in itself (that i know of) but moron means stupid. I called myself stupid, a contradictory and stupid person) Will you laugh now`?

* * *

Anyhow. The new chapter came pretty quickly because of the amount of appreciation I was shown the night before! With only a prologue chapter and this story has already gotten more followers than any other story I've written! You guys are seriously awesome! Don't forget to leave a review and follow the story if you liked it! Much love.

Also, I'm getting to the arcs a bit later. Just don't expect the story to play out the same. We have an overpowered Naruto who's not above killing people. I'm still excited to see where this goes.

-Sherlock D(arui) Holmes

(I'm sorry to have ended this chapter so cancerously with this incoherent A/N. I really am)


	3. Land of Waves 2: A Prelude

**Synopsis:** Naruto never asked for this... creature. He never asked to be marked as the vessel of a genocidal beast. What he definitely didn't ask for was to be tormented for a large part of his childhood for something that even he wasn't responsible for. That's why he snapped.

To become a Hokage? That's merely a part of his plan. What he plans is to rid his village of the human filth that tormented him for so long. A reform, where blood shall be plenty, and deaths common.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I refuse to believe that I will literally get sued for, get this, writing a Naruto fanfic and not plastering a disclaimer. I refuse to! I absolutely refuse to believe that. Although there have been times where my favorite authors just suddenly up and vanished, and coincidentally they never put disclaimers in their stories. Maybe... they did get sued, and were told to abandon their profiles... but if that's true... then I don't own Naruto, it belongs to Kishimoto Masashi... and stuff I dunno.**

 _Chapter_ 2

 _Journey to the land of the waves_

 _A prelude_

 _"A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of_  
 _learning more, and must unbend his mind"_

-Sophocles, ancient greek playwright

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Her alarm bell sounded at 6:00 AM in the morning. It didn't wake her up.

You'd have to be asleep for something to wake you up.

She hadn't had a single second of sleep throughout the night. The alarm clock only served to startle her half to death. Immediately reaching for it with impressive reflex, she turned it off.

She still couldn't shake of her encounter with her teammate.

 _Teammate_

Perhaps the scariest part was that she'd still have to see him on a regular basis during training and missions. The worst thing, though, was most likely that she was unable to tell anyone of what occurred. She could sense the blond's malice, and honestly, she had spent her night reassessing her time spent around the boy. All the things she might have done to push his buttons. His rant had cleared up a large amount of things that the boy felt was a nuisance regarding herself. Only that it was all hard to swallow.

 _"...and 'Sasuke-kun'? Hn, don't even sully his reputation. As if he'd ever go out with a try-hard fangirl like you,"_

Surprisingly, that was the quickest thing for her to have absorbed. No matter how much she denied it, she had realized just how much of a fangirl she was. Her night was mostly just spent in reflection. The worst part of it all was just how true it all was, and how much truer it became to her for every minute that passed spent thinking about it.

Among the other things that the boy said, however, it was quite obvious that it became simply idle name-calling and empty threats. On paper, that is. What had Sakura on the tips of her toes was the continuous wave of malicious chakra that the boy kept on exuding, accentuated every time the boy raised his voice. He had mentioned both her parents' names and had even entertained horrible thoughts about them. Although he doubted the newly minted Genin could match against a Chūnin that her father was, she was still disgusted by the way the boy said those things.

Sakura was a firm believer of the phrase ' _Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me'_. Only it wasn't what the boy said that hurt her.

It was what the boy meant. Sakura knew there was no way out of this. She'd have to either shape up or give up on becoming a Kunoichi, something she'd never do. Therefore, her night was spent dwelling on those words. The Fire capital wasn't built in a day, however. She knew she'd have to condition herself in the span of weeks. It didn't matter, though. When has a Kunoichi ever been exalted for a job easily done?

Sakura did her morning drills in her room. Twenty-five chakra-less pushups, two sets of fifty situps and two sets of fifty squats. She had to exercise lightly as the rest of the day would be appropriate enough for training.

"Sakura, honey! Breakfast's ready!" yelled her mother from downstairs. The girl donned her attire and wrapped the forehead protector tightly before dashing downstairs.

"How is your Genin team, honey? You were so spent last night, I couldn't possibly have asked you then," she asks. Sakura was in the middle of eating her breakfast when that question caught her off-guard. She straightened her back quickly before giggling little, trying to hide her nervousness.

"It's great mom! I got to be on the same team as Sasuke and another boy, which I'm sure you don't really know," she replied, hoping that no inquiry would be made on the unknown boy.

"Sasuke, huh? You've had your eyes on that boy since grade school. Congratulations, Saku! But... what about the other boy?" she asks, to which Sakura paused, putting her spoon down.

"You wouldn't know him even if I told you," she clarifies, to which her mother held her waist as she donned an annoyed face.

"Come on, Saku. The more you hold out on telling me, the more I'd want to know," she says, to which Sakura sighs in exasperation.

"His name's Naruto. He's the dead-la..." she cuts herself off before continuing. "He's kinda good at Ninjutsu and Taijutsu," she says. She still didn't have much to compliment the boy. The mother just pauses at the mention of the boy's name. Taking a second in worrying about the girl's safety around the nine-tails Jinchuriki of Konoha, she resorted to simply warning her.

"Be careful around that boy... he's a troublemaker," she states, to which Sakura freezes, a drop of sweat running down her forehead. _A troublemaker._ _Yeah, and Orochimaru the missing-nin of Konoha was just a bandit._

If only the woman knew how the boy was. In lessons, he hardly ever interrupted. He was by far a genius in his own right. Capable of impeccable chakra control as well as taijutsu, he was a force to be reckoned with. Surely, his intelligence couldn't be excluded. He was no fool.

Which had made Sakura wonder more than just once: _'Why is he dead last'_? There weren't many that were privy to that tidbit of information, but there were quite a few interested in seeing whether Naruto would turn out to be in the top tier like he usually was. Sakura was definitely one of them, as she'd worked so hard to get to where she was so that her target of love would acknowledge her. What was written there was, instead, extremely confusing for anyone who had observed the boy work his genius. Putting that thought away for another day, she finished up her milk before heading out to the usual place where Team 7 met.

* * *

::::::-/-\\-::::::

* * *

The group was gathered on the benches, waiting patiently for their teacher to arrive. Although Sakura couldn't even talk if she wanted to. Naruto, no matter how harmless he seemed at the moment, lying on the top of a table, rolling around a few inches, was still Naruto. He was... just not right. Sakura gulped again, for the fifth time since they arrived there. Naruto had spent some of his night pondering what his plan for tomorrow was going to be. He needed his team to be strong enough to all become Chunin in the coming chunin exam in a few months. Sasuke could definitely become one, given enough training, but Sakura was another case entirely, and she needed to be drilled properly. Thus he had planned to teach them all some chakra control exercises to improve their strength. The blond yawned loudly before announcing something.

Naruto was hardly an idiot. The supervisor for Team 7, Kakashi Hatake, never came on time. Despite it being an occurrence that manifested twice, Naruto still felt somewhat confident in his estimation. The teacher came late for two and a half hours, on both days. There was no point in them wasting their time while waiting for their teacher.

"Sensei's not gonna be back until two and a half hours. 'Til then, I'll be training. Sasuke, you wanna join?" he asked plainly. Sasuke nodded briefly before standing up to follow the blond. Before he left, though, he turned back, facing Sakura.

"You can come, too, Sakura," he assured. Sakura was still quite shaken up, and because of this, she could hardly protest. As though her legs weren't even hers, she stood up to follow, being mindful of keeping a twelve feet distance from the boy.

Arriving shortly at the closest training field, Naruto stopped to lie down on the grass. Sasuke looked at the blond curiously.

"I thought you said we were gonna train," he asked in a low voice. Naruto nodded slowly in a lazy manner.

"You good with Chakra control?" he asked. Sasuke scoffed at the question.

"Hn. There's no doubt about it. You're strong in Taijutsu, but I know that if we fought using ninjutsu, it'd be another story. the question is: are you?" he asked, to which Naruto leaped to his feet in an excited fashion.

"Don't get cocky, Sasuke," he warned in a feigned good-hearted manner, before taking on a more teacherly tone of voice.

"Chakra control is a very important aspect that any ninja should adorn," he started as he walked towards a large tree. "Not only is it used to regulate the flow of chakra to use in ninjutsu, it can be applied in different parts of your body for various functions," he continued. "We all know of muscle enhancement. It's the cornerstone of Taijutsu. The thing, however, is that's barely scratching the surface of what chakra can do," he stopped in front of the tree. From there, he planted a foot solidly at the tree, leaning his weight on that foot. "For instance, you've all seen water walking, grass walking and tree walking," he placed his other foot on the tree, and from there, he walked vertically up the tree. Sakura was wide-eyed at the display, while the young Uchiha raised his eyebrow in surprise. "It's a bit tricky. Apply too little chakra and you won't stick. Apply too much chakra and the tree will explode from your footprints," he explained. Afterward, he jumped off the tree, flipping backward simply because it was aesthetic, and once again he faced the Uchiha.

"Any two-bit shinobi knows this technique. I suggest you both start practicing. The soles of your feet are the hardest places to cover with chakra, but unfortunately, you'll want to focus your chakra expressly on those points. It's a low learning curve and you'll get the hang of it in no-time," he assured.

"A question, Naruto. Who taught you all of this?" asked Sasuke in genuine bafflement. The boy, himself, had been ahead of most of his class due to his knowledge of elemental Jutsu, the fireball Jutsu. Naruto smirked smugly.

"A friend taught me," he said. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't quite the truth either. The nine-tails could hardly be considered a friend, anyways. Naruto continued. "And remember. Keep a clear mind and focus your chakra carefully," he advised.

"Naruto, are you underestimating me?" he asked, baffled that the boy shook his question away with such ease. Naruto rose an eyebrow in surprise but conceded.

"From an early age, I was taught the very basics of chakra control. It was extremely rigorous and challenging, doubly so due to my age," he lied. He looked straight into the eyes of the Uchiha with a deadly stare, causing the boy to take a small step back.

"I lied. He wasn't my friend," he admitted. Sasuke regained his composure as quickly as he lost it, before nodding in approval. And with that, they began their exercise. Ahead walked Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto had told them both to mark the tree with a kunai knife whenever they'd fall, thus giving them both a benchmark to work towards. Sasuke utilized running speed and from there, he let his chakra do the rest. He fell down several times. Sakura, however, had only fallen around five times before completely managing to scale the entire tree. From there, she looked down on the rest of her team, waving. She felt proud of her achievement, but she felt it was still to early to smile around the blond. Upon seeing his teammate succeed, the young Uchiha became flustered. He continued on, trying and trying. He had made visible progress, but he still wasn't in mastery, yet, but he was getting there. About two hours had passed, and the boy was able to walk up half the tree.

Naruto saw her success and smirked inwardly. He had already succeeded in teaching his teammate a basic chakra control exercise. Afterward, he attempted a technique known as grass-walking. Among the many chakra-walking techniques, grass-walking was by far the most underappreciated ones. Capable of completely eliminating footstep sounds and leaving any trace of footsteps, grass-walking was a technique that any stealth based shinobi would learn. The basics of the technique involved imbuing the sole of the foot with chakra. It was almost the same as the tree-walking technique, but grass-walking involved chakra-conduction. The chakra had to seep into the grass blades. It required extreme precision as too much chakra could destroy the leaves while too little chakra would just make the technique fail. Sakura had a minuscule chakra reserve, perfectly fit for a medical-nin, but any chakra control exercise at her age could very well expand her reserve.

Naruto removed his shoes. He applied chakra on his soles before taking cautious and slow steps on the grass. He was expecting Sakura to watch him, which she did. Slowly, he placed his feet on the grass, pumping the grass with enough chakra to make them completely stiff, capable of carrying the boy's weight without bending. Sakura tried the same thing, but had used too much chakra, and as a result, the grass burst in small pops, making her lose her balance. Naruto spotted her falling, inwardly groaning. He approached the girl, giving her a hand. The girl looked at it, confused. The events of the previous day was still fresh in her mind, as she could hardly forget them so quickly. She took the hand, afraid of what might happen if she didn't. Naruto pulled her up with a feigned smile, only there to make her more comfortable, which it didn't.

"You've got to focus your mind. It'll never work if you keep dwelling..." he paused slightly. "On yesterday,". Naturally, Sakura stiffened, but the playful giggle that Naruto gave of sounded like nothing more than that of an immature prankster's. She attempted once again, careful to bar of any stressful thoughts that she carried. Because she hadn't slept that night, it was easier to relax as most of her energies were replenishing slower. She took some cautious steps before falling once again, but she did manage to pull the technique of. _I know what to do now_. She had gotten the hang of the technique, and now it would only be a matter of time before.

Upon seeing his teammate succeed, the young Uchiha became flustered. He continued on, trying and trying. He had made visible progress, but he still wasn't in mastery, yet, but he was getting there. About two hours had passed, and the boy was able to walk up half the tree.

"Time's up, team. Honey's gonna be home anytime now," he warned, to which Sasuke groaned. He hadn't reached his goal, but he'd definitely want to continue the exercise later during the day after they'd complete their missions. Sakura looked towards the blond in a mix of apprehension and understanding. From then on, they ran back to their agreed-upon meeting place, where they'd be meeting their sensei. The teacher still hadn't arrived when they'd return. Not after around ten additional minutes did the perverted enigma show himself.

"Oh, if it isn't my adorable team. I'm sorry for my lateness. An old woman needed help to cross the street," he lied, not caring to make an effort on it this time. Sasuke twitched his eye in annoyance.

"For two hours?" he asked.

"It was a very wide road, and the woman was really old," he persisted. The entire team groaned in exasperation. "But nevermind. Today, we will begin with our missions," he began, handing out the mission fliers that he'd picked at the mission distribution office.

The flier read: "D-Ranked mission: Locate Tora, the cat, and have it returned to the owner, Madame Shijimi, the wife of the Fire Daimyo." The rest of the flier contained some clues as to the feline's whereabouts.

The Daimyo was an extremely influential man. He owned a large portion of land in the eastern part of the Fire Nation, and was ultimately the lord of the entire Fire Nation. As a result, he has a large standing in Konoha politics, and is generally one of the people who'd have a say in whoever becomes the new hokage. The Konoha council was but a small part of the larger machine that governed Konoha's internal and external affairs. This was Naruto's chance to cozy up with an influential being to assure his ascent to power. Naruto rose his hand up in inquiry.

"Kakashi-sensei. Am I permitted to interract with the Daimyo's wife?" he asked. Both his teammates looked at him wonderingly. They still had no idea how to read the boy, and thus, they'd figured it was better if they'd just drop the topic immediately.

"Huh? She's 41 years old, you know. Even I'd stay away from her," he replied. The entire team deadpanned in surprise, including Naruto.

"Naruto... You letch," whispered Sakura. Sasuke was equally surprised.

"You're that twisted?" he asked. Naruto looked at both of them in mild annoyance, then back to their teacher.

"It's not that, you lecherous bastard," he said as his eye twitched. "I'm just wondering whether a group of ANBU would apprehend me if I talked to her," he cleared up. Not looking up from his book, he replied casually.

"Nah, but it depends on what you'd do. If you plan to assassinate her, that's a different story," he told them, in a completely casual manner. Naruto simply nodded, realizing he could still manage to get close to the Fire Daimyo.

"I expect you've read the entire flier by now. If that's all, let's go," he announced simply. With careful planning and coordination, the cat was captured with ease. They brought the cat back to the owner, completely unscathed.

"Oh, Tora!" exclaimed the Fire Daimyo's wife, Madame Shijimi, as she hugged the cat tightly. "How I've missed you?!" she continued, spinning around in the process. The team was at the Mission Distribution Office where they received their mission. They were given their due pay, which was minuscule considering the difficulty of the mission being D-ranked. While the rest of the team counted their money, Naruto approached the middle-aged lady cautiously before announcing her presence.

"Hello, Madame Shijimi, ma'am. I hope your content with our service," asked Naruto with a feigned voice of innocence. The lady looked down at him with a wide smile plastered on her face.

"Of course, my darling! Thanks to you, Tora and I are finally united!" she exclaimed ecstatically.

"Anything for the esteemed wife of the Fire Daimyo," replied Naruto with a tone of sub ordinance.

"Oh, yes, my husband is a very important man. You got that right!" she replied, as jovial as ever. "You sure are mannered and knowledgeable on politics. Tell me, boy. What's your name?" she asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki. I aspire to become the Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves," he replied, confidently in his voice. The woman nodded approvingly, giving him a thumbs up.

"With enough strength, I'm sure you'll achieve your dream. I'll put in a good word for you to my husband," she replied gaily. Naruto had mentally pumped his fist in achieving his goal. Although microscopic, he had gained some traction within the political community. Madame Shijimi was known to be a spendthrift and extremely philanthropic. Any attempt at cozying up with the Fire Daimyo must be done through her first.

"Naruto! You done? This isn't our last mission, you know. Not by a long shot!" yelled Kakashi. Naruto focused his attention on the man and followed him out the building. Later came hours upon hours of D-ranked missions. Scratch the last part. These tasks could hardly even be called missions. They were, for all intents and purposes, chores and menial tasks. There was nothing that the genin did that caretakers couldn't do. They cleaned out the litter from a river, walked dogs, removed the leaves from a rich man's garden and countless other things. By the end of it all, it was nearing sundown and the team was spent.

"Alright, team. Here's the money we gathered. Disperse," he said, after handing everyone their due pays. With that, the team dispersed from each other. Sasuke, instead of heading home, headed towards the third training ground, which they'd spent two hours of their morning in, exercising their chakra control. Naturally, Naruto felt inclined to see what he was up to and had tailed the boy, using stealth to avoid the boy noticing him. After a few minutes, he arrived. He walked closely to the same tree that he was climbing, and continued his exercise, making tiny steps of progress in the process. It was late at night, but it didn't stop Sasuke from continuing to attempt and fail. Naruto, inwardly sighing, unmasked his presence and approached the boy.

"There was no point in unmasking your presence. Please, you're as good a stealth shinobi as I'm good at this stupid exercise," he announced. Naruto was caught off-guard, completely baffled by the boy's chakra sensing mastery, but he didn't show it.

"I legitimately thought that you wouldn't notice me," he admitted. Sasuke scoffed.

"There's no point in acting like your miles ahead of the rest of us, you know. You try too hard," he told the blond. Naruto absorbed his words with a tinge of harsh realization.

"You could say that all you want, you know, but bottom-line is that I'm stronger than you," he said before attempting to advise the boy once again. "Sasuke, you've gotta concentrate while channeling your chakra. There's no point in rushing into it, ya know," he advised, which only aggravated the boy.

"Hn, talk all you want, Naruto, but you're not the boss-"

"Itachi was one of the most talented Shinobi of his time. This tree-walking exercise wouldn't have-" Sasuke counter-interrupted the blond.

"Don't you dare say his name...!" ordered Sasuke with a malicious intent. "That man his scum. He doesn't deserve to carry the name of a Shinobi," said the boy.

"You think you'd be a match for him in your state? Itachi had talent and he worked hard. If you don't master chakra control at your stage, you wouldn't even be able to hold a candle against him," said Naruto. Sasuke, in a flustered state, reached for a shuriken, which he tossed towards Naruto with a killing intent. Naruto quickly parried the shuriken with his own kunai knife.

"Sasuke, you can barely fight me. At this point, it'll be better if you just listen to me," advised Naruto as a dormant fury bubbled inside of him. He didn't take a liking to being attacked, regardless of whether they connected their strikes or not. Sasuke, however, was still being headstrong.

"Fight me, Naruto. We'll go all out, this time. No restrictions, and no crying," he announces. Naruto's calm fury rose up, accepting the challenge with no hitch. They then stood opposite to each other, each from one end of the third training ground. Naruto produced a clone that would announce when the fight began. In three seconds, the clone yelled 'Begin', and thus the battle had begun.

Naruto stood still, creating a single clone. The Uchiha began his offense with a fireball Jutsu directed at Naruto. Both he and his clone dodged the incoming ball of flame. The clone then charged ahead towards Sasuke leaving behind the original Naruto while the Uchiha had summoned a barrage of fireballs. They were more chakra efficient now, which allowed him to produce more, reducing the time interval between Jutsu activation. The Naruto clone dodged the barrage of fireballs with extreme ease, jumping over them, and sidestepping them with abnormal agility. As the clone began closing in on Sasuke, he decided to pull out his kunai. The clone also pulled out his own Kunai in response. The clone began with a vertical slash, which Sasuke parried, but the slash had enough force to make the boy stagger backward. The clone continued hacking away, but Sasuke continued to parry each and every slash. He had hardly a single opening to attack, himself. The one-sided exchange continued until Sasuke found enough strength to push back with his own Kunai, and pulling out an additional one which he used to attempt a stab at the clone. In the nick of time, it jumped back, making the Uchiha miss his slash. Naruto felt pleased that his teammate held up so good with his clone, but felt that their battle had to be cut short.

Wordlessly, he dispelled his clone and prepared to charge the young Uchiha while he was completely unarmed. He spent his first ten meters sprinting with relative swiftness before flickering with inhuman speed, appearing before the Uchiha with a withdrawn hand, going for the kill at he tries to connect his punch. Sasuke, with terror filled in his eyes, had managed to raise his Kunai just in time to parry the hit, but he could hardly resist the force behind the punch, thus ending up blown behind by the sheer force that the punch entailed. Sasuke tried standing up to prepare his own attack had it not been for Naruto cutting it short with a kick to his head, causing the young Uchiha to get blown back in the direction of the hit. His flight was ended by a tree. Sliding downwards from the tree, it was obvious about who was the victor.

"You know how strong you are better than anyone else," announced the blond solemnly. "Take my advice if you wish to grow in strength, but never make the mistake of underestimating me," he warns.

"Ever," concludes the blond. He walked over to the boy to see if he was in need of medical attention, which he wasn't, luckily. After this, he simply took his leave, heading homewards.

* * *

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* * *

The following days were quite eventless. Sasuke had learned from his one-sided battle with Naruto and had started to invest more time and focus on his training, which he occasionally did with the blond. Sakura had, with baby-steps, gotten over her apprehension for Naruto, but she knew that she'd never disturb the boy again. Instead, friendly interactions, although rare, were becoming more and more common between the two young genin. Mission wise, they were still delegated menial D-ranked missions, but only on their second week of non-stop D-ranks were they given a C-ranked mission. It was a pretty big deal for their team, and even Naruto showed some enthusiasm to their new upgrade.

"My pupils, I understand that you both know what a C-rank mission entails?" he asks, to which the ever-book smart Sakura raises her hand.

"C-rank missions will involve no combat with ninjas, but can involve combat against bandits or highwaymen, or even suppression of wild animals. It can vary from escort missions, bandit leader assassinations or document transportation missions. C-ranks are paid at prices ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 Ryo" she recited. Kakashi, with a gleam in his one visible eye, gave a nod of approvement.

"Correct, Sakura. Here are your mission fliers," he said as he distributed them.

 _C-rank mission: Protect Tazuna, the bridge builder. Escort him to the land of waves  
and oversee that he gets to build his bridge with no bandits disrupting him._

 _Expected payment: 100,000 Ryo_

Naruto blinked at the reward money. Although it would be divided into three, 33,000 was still a lot of money, and it could finally help him repair some of his broken amenities that his landlord couldn't bother to fix herself. As the team skimmed through the flier, their object for protection, Tazuna came into view. Tazuna was a gruff, grey-haired man in his mid-fifties if his appearance was anything to go with. He had long and spiky and unkempt gray hair, which contradicted his age, and wore glasses. He had an unkempt goatee which suggested a careless attitude, but any question of him having such an attitude was definitely confirmed by the sake bottle he was chugging from.

"They're the shinobi that'll be protectin' me?" he slurred, confirming his inebriated state. "They're just kids!" he exclaims, to which Kakashi raised both his hands apologetically.

"Now, now. Don't you worry about my pupils. They're more than strong enough to complete the mission, but in the event that they're over encumbered, I'll won't be leaving their sides. Not for a second," he assures, to which the old man simply shrugs and raises his bottle, presumably to finish off the rest of his sake.

"If that's all, let's get moving," he announces. The formation was clear. Kakashi would be walking from the back, overlooking his pupils as they triangularly surrounded the target of protection in a manji formation. In that manner, they continued walking, striking up a conversation in the process.

"Uhm, Tazuna-san, what kind of place is the Land of Waves?" she asks. The man had been too focused on the road ahead of him, so he looked down in surprise at the question.

"Well, what can I say? It's a modest country. Although with little, we do get by barely. Although that'll change once we build our bridge," replied the old bridge builder. Naruto had a question.

"How so?" he asks.

"Our country is very poor. It is also hard to reach due to it being an island, so one has to take a boat whenever one wants to enter the city. Because of this, commerce is hardly existent in this country. Naturally, the best solution to it all would be to build a bridge connecting the island to the mainland, allowing large carriages to pass, thus opening new gates for commerce and as a result, revitalizing our once-nigh dead country's economy. However, there's a man that'll stop at nothing to prevent that from happening," he pauses.

"And who might that be?" asks Sasuke in genuine curiosity. Tazuna, after a few seconds, regained the courage to speak.

"Gatou," he says. To both Sasuke and Sakura, the name Gatou carried no weight. Kakashi and Naruto, however, were up to date on current affairs and politics.

"Gatou, the CEO of the Gatou company? The shipping magnate?" asks Naruto, in an inquiring tone of voice.

"Yes. Gatou Yanai in all the glory of his name. He isn't as noble as he makes himself out to be," he spat before raising his voice once again. "He uses my country as a dock to sell his illegal drugs and other contraband!" he yells in genuine anger before pausing once again.

"Of course the police investigates him, although there's never any evidence about his conduct. Any witness that dare speak out about his behavior. Well, they die. I, however, am convinced that with a few shinobi on my side, he and his goons will flee the area like cockroaches to light," he says. "Killing non-ninja is still in the scope of a regular C-ranked mission, now, isn't it? Especially when I paid the highest due amount for a C-rank mission, isn't it, Mr. Kakashi?" he asks, receiving a nod in agreement from the teacher.

"Are there any hidden villages in the Land of Waves?" asked Sakura, receiving a scoff in reply from the old man.

"If there was one, I wouldn't have risked my life traveling all the way here. I'm afraid the Land of Waves is simply just too small to have a hidden village. Perhaps someday, the Fire Daimyo will acknowledge our existence and invest in a hidden village on these parts. Until then, we'll all be making the long haul to and from here," he lamented. Naruto had viewed this as an opportunity. He believed that if he and his team could successfully remove Gatou and his thugs, they would gain a considerable amount of good reputation there. He could put this in a resume he could begin on writing by the end of this mission that would last for most likely a week to a week and a half.

A low sound of a twig breaking from the distance was heard. Naruto heard it, and so did Sasuke. If Kakashi had heard it, he made a good job in not showing it. Naruto used Standard Shinobi Sign Language to convey to Kakashi about the impending attack. He was careful, signing as subtly as possible, before directing the same signs to his teammates. Sakura, who was formerly having a friendly conversation with their target of protection, grew completely tense for a split second after deciphering the message. Sasuke took it with stride, absorbing the message while at the same time keeping quiet about it, maintaining his emotionless face.

" _Act completely natural. I will act as a decoy, and immediately when you sense their arrival, attack them,"_ signed their teacher subtly. Sakura could hardly contain her nervousness. To someone like Tazuna, she smiled all the same in her amiable way, but to a close observer, her palms were visibly lubricated with sweat. Her knees felt faint while she made a visible effort in keeping her jovial posture. Sasuke took it the best, even better than Naruto, who was more excited about the prospect of a fight. He could sense just barely that their assailants would definitely be shinobi. Although it proved to become a good training experience, it still meant that the old man had downplayed the mission difficulty, upgrading it to a B-ranked mission at worst.

Ahead of their path was a puddle of water. They had seen quite a few of them on their path, but only when Naruto realized that they were being tailed did he see them for what they truly were. At a time when it hadn't rained for months, such puddles couldn't have occurred naturally. Even if they did, water didn't tend to be so chakra-potent, as though they were chakra constructs.

The trap was sprung. The assailants showed themselves. They both had really long and unkempt spiky dark hair, a long chain of shuriken stretching from one's right arm to the other's left arm, and wore the Kirigakure's forehead protector, but had a line crossed horizontally through the symbol, signifying that they were missing nin. They attempted to surround Kakashi with the chain, which they appeared to succeed in. They fastened the phantom grip they seemingly had on the man, shredding what appeared to be a wooden log taking his place to pieces. The two ninja looked puzzled, having just realized their failure in attacking their target. Any display of such puzzlement was cut short by a coordinated flanking attack from Naruto and Sasuke, who had used their confusion as an opening, kicking them both in their backs, knocking them off their feet. Before they could recover, the boys lunged at them, both with Kunai in their hand as they kept them closely to their assailants' necks.

"Here's how it's gonna be. Don't tell us who sent you and you die. Do tell us who sent you, and I'll give you a twenty seconds headstart," proposed Naruto as he oozed killing intent. Sakura, catching a whiff of the foul chakra, grew wide-eyed at the display. If that evening two weeks ago was Naruto when he was agitated, then what the hell was this? Or was that time just him in an annoyed state? Sakura began realizing the depth of hatred that the boy carried.

Sasuke held his hostage tightly, simply letting Naruto do the talking. Both of them began sweating profusely, not exactly sure what to do. They were so confident that their attack wouldn't be thwarted, but they were both held such that a single movement would result in their deaths.

"Alright, I'll tell you... just don't hurt my brother, Meizu," pleaded one of them.

"Gozu, no! You don't have to rat him out for me!" replied the brother, Meizu. Naruto grew disinterested in the exchange.

"Oi, Gozu. I'll slit your throat, end of story," threatened Naruto, to which Gozu became even more nervous. Naruto's matter-of-fact way of talking made it even scarier. How could a child this young be so frightening?

"A-alright! We were sent by Gato! We're his men!" yelled Gozu. Naruto let go of his grip, and so did Sasuke. Both of them stood up quickly before taking off. Naruto began counting loudly from twenty.

"Nineteen Konohagakure, eighteen Konohagakure, seventeen Konohagakure," he continued all the way to one. Immediately, he used the body flicker technique to attempt to catch up with his foes. He spent an extreme amount of chakra trying to charge the technique, and because of this, he had managed to reach one of the brothers fairly quickly, reaching for his Kunai before driving it behind his back, making it protrude from his chest. The shinobi stopped dead in his tracks, falling down on the forest floor. Meizu, the brother, looked back to see his brother die.

"Gozu, no!" he yelled, before releasing the shuriken chain that connected them both. He threw some Shuriken to the boy, which he had dodged deftly, parrying some with his Kunai. Meizu produced some poisonous claws then, which Naruto parried yet again with his Kunai. As he played with his opponent for a bit, he remembered that he had more important business. With a swift movement of his hand, he dug his kunai deep into the man's chest, piercing his heart. He located the body of Gozu and collected his head as well as Meizu's, signifying their deaths. Using the body flicker technique to travel back to his team, he arrived shortly.

In front of them and his teacher, he dumped both the assailant's heads. Sakura's heart leaped at the grotesque display, while Kakashi acknowledged simply that Naruto had done the deed. Sasuke had no real reaction other than admiration for the boy's pragmatism.

"Mr. Tazuna, we're going to have to rediscuss the terms of this mission," said Naruto in an authoritative tone of voice. Tazuna sighed, knowing that it would come to this. The only question was when. Sadly, it had to be now.

* * *

A/N:

I really appreciate the love I've received for this story, I really do. Now, this A/N won't be as shitposty as the last one, promise.

I haven't seen anyone comment on the tag Evil!Naruto on the description. If you read the fic carefully, Naruto isn't evil as per the traditional definition. Sure, he might be callous and hateful, and extremely edgy, he's not immoral or completely asocial. He's no psychopath or anything.

But judging by his absolute nature in that he has no qualms with killing or emotionally scarring anyone that proves to be in his way, he'd seem pretty evil, right? What is evil? Would it be having no regards for killing or inflicting torture or harm upon a person? Naruto is like that already. Only he already has a set classification of people that he's okay with doing that too. People he himself deems are evil.

While vigilante justice often is depicted in comics as, well, the truest justice, I still think that it's wrong. Naruto's decisions are largely affected by his emotions and his traumatic past, which gives him little to no tolerance for anyone he deems evil, and chooses to get rid of them instead of actually making an attempt in bettering them, depending on the significance of the person and how significant he is to achieve his goals (See Danzo Shimura). Naruto won't just mindlessly kill for his own pleasure.

While all of this suggests that he's evil, he still doesn't touch anyone he deems are innocent. Is that truly evil, or just his own absolute justice? Does his "no sorries" policy make him evil, or is he just a misunderstood hero? Please write a review on what you think. I'm dying to read them.

* * *

Also, I'm not sure how I'd include it in the story at this point, but I just have to write it somewhere, so I'm guessing this could be the appendix.

Naruto Uzumaki:

He doesn't wear his signature jumpsuit as it's not pragmatic enough and it just messes up his stealth. Instead, he wears a dark-olive Konoha flak jacket, just without all the pockets. Beneath it, he wears a skin-tight black shirt with sleeves reaching up to the middle of his forearm. He wore standard dark blue pants and his regular forehead protector. Prior to receiving his headband, he didn't wear goggles. He also wore open-toed rubber-soled shoes like in canon. His theme is dark-olive because of its camouflage properties, especially in an area like the Land of Fire being so rich with trees matching the color.

Also, before I conclude the chapter, please please please write a review on how I should better my writing style. I am not a pro, but I'd at least like to know how I should improve myself.


	4. Land of Waves 3: An Assassin

**Synopsis:** Naruto never asked for this... creature. He never asked to be marked as the vessel of a genocidal beast. What he definitely didn't ask for was to be tormented for a large part of his childhood for something that even he wasn't responsible for. That's why he snapped.

To become a Hokage? That's merely a part of his plan. What he plans is to rid his village of the human filth that tormented him for so long. A reform, where blood shall be plenty, and deaths common.

* * *

 **Disclaimer: What if I omit the disclaimer? What if? This entire website has a blanket disclaimer, already, so why should I waste my time trying to write a "funny" and "original" disclaimer just to show that I'm not boring? However, I'm not taking any chances. I've taken a liking to this story, and thus I'll try and protect it from the big bad people up in Studio Pierrot. At any rate, I don't own Naruto, except for that one copy of Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 that I bought for my birthday. I legitimately own that copy, and frankly, it's the only thing I've ever owned relating to Naruto.**

 _Chapter_ 3

 _Journey to the land of the waves_

 _An assassin by the name of Zabuza_

 _"An assassin is but a killer unseen, and  
_ _thus, a seen assassin_ _is but a shy killer"_

-Falsk Feykneim, a totally real guy (I didn't make this quote up)

::::::-/-\\-::::::

 _In front of them and his teacher, he dumped both the assailant's heads. Sakura's heart leaped at the grotesque display, while Kakashi acknowledged simply that Naruto had done the deed. Sasuke had no real reaction other than admiration for the boy's pragmatism._

 _"Mr. Tazuna, we're going to have to rediscuss the terms of this mission," said Naruto in an authoritative tone of voice. Tazuna sighed, knowing that it would come to this. The only question was when. Sadly, it had to be now._

* * *

::::::-/-\\-::::::

* * *

Kakashi had, in the nick of time, evaded the coordinated attack of the Demon brothers of the village hidden in the mist: Meizu and Gozu. He used a substitution technique where he substituted himself with a log, but as a result, he was taken quite far from the battle. Had it not been for the two boys present, Tazuna could very well have been killed.

That was, however, where the issue lay. Tazuna was, from the get-go, targeted. It wasn't until Naruto confirmed it as he interrogated one of the brothers that they were, indeed, both men sent by the shipping magnate himself, Gatou Yanai.

"If I understood correctly, these fine gentlemen," began Naruto as he pointed at the heads that lay before his feet. "Were actually going to kill you, and to make matters worse, it was because Gatou had hired them". Tazuna looked down in half-shame and half-anticipation of what was coming. He had hoped that he could keep his charade until they arrived in the city, where he could do his best to convince the Leaf village ninja to continue aiding him.

"Unfortunately, they're both ninja, if their tactics, chakra or headbands was any indication. Fortunately, they weren't too strong, so the difficulty of this mission would rise to B at best. Of course, you know what that means, right?" he continued. Kakashi felt the need to continue Naruto's speech.

"According to the rules, a shinobi is allowed to opt out of the mission if the mission difficulty was fabricated, but if we continue and complete the mission, you are indebted to us, depending on the final difficulty that the mission carried, plus an additional fine of five hundred thousand Ryo," he said. Tazuna didn't budge. Instead, he displayed his intentions in a clear light.

"Alright. I'm guilty. However, I have already poured my heart out. There's nothing more you need to know about our plight, anyhow. It's up to you, now, to choose whether you'd still want to help me out," said Tazuna. Sakura interjected.

"If anything, I'd gladly still be of help," she said. Naruto hadn't known that their mission was going to become this volatile, but he loved the prospect of meeting new opponents.

"I'd gladly continue the mission," said Naruto. The old man stared intently at Sasuke, but he had simply crossed his arms in contemplation.

"It'd be quite an experience if I do say so myself," said Kakashi. "However, if Sasuke doesn't want to continue, we have no choice but to go home. We either complete the mission as a team, or we don't do it at all," he warned. Sasuke caved in.

"Fine, whatever," he said. The old man was relieved that they were all so willing to help him, and any trace of him being touched was skillfully masked by his laissez-faire attitude.

"I still have a question, though. How come you couldn't just pay for a B-ranked mission?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Our country is very impoverished. Even our nobles have too little money to spend. The common people that work on this bridge together with me don't have enough money to pay for a B-ranked mission. Even so, we sought help from you, knowing that the situation might escalate into the scope of a B-ranked mission or higher. And to that, I truly apologize. It was not my intention that any of you would come to any harm, but your strength has assured me that such an occurrence might not be possible," he stated. Naruto nodded but refused to follow the matter any further.

The rest of the journey was spent with double the haste. Tazuna had requested that they hurry up, lest his family came to any harm. Most likely it had been spurred by Naruto's grotesque display of violence and callousness that got him hurrying. If only a child could be that horrifying, the man had a lot to worry about. He was reasonably anxious, but his old visage did a lot to hide his obvious worry. Between breaks, Sasuke and Sakura continued training with Naruto, who had taught them chakra control techniques.

They had learned a lot for the past two weeks doing missions. Between the hours when Kakashi would be late, they utilized the time in training. Sakura had a natural affinity for chakra control, most likely due to her minuscule chakra reserve, which was, due to her intense training, actually expanding. While Sasuke was still mastering the techniques, his chakra outmatched Sakura's by far. This caused him great difficulty as he attempted controlling his chakra.

Sakura had already mastered tree-walking completely. She was moderate in grass-walking but tended to run out of chakra quite rapidly when water-walking. Sasuke had more than enough chakra for the task, but his control was lacking. As a result, he was lagging behind Sakura severely. When Sasuke finally mastered tree-walking, Sakura had already moved from grass-walking to water-walking. This only fueled the boy's anger. He spent a disproportionate amount of hours doing these training drills.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before their sensei, Kakashi, caught on to his students' abnormal growth in strength, especially when he hadn't administered any training regimen at the moment. The Jonin had then taken it upon himself to spy on the trio, effectively gathering that Naruto was teaching his teammates the subtle art of chakra control. Kakashi reminisced on what the Hokage had told him back then before he became the Team 7 sensei.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to teach this..." continued the Hokage as he waved a hand in disbelief at the pictures of the trio that were spread on his desk. "abomination of a team?" asked the Hokage in bafflement. "On the left, we have Sasuke Uchiha, the survivor of the Uchiha massacre. Almost the top of his class and he has already taught himself a basic ninjutsu! On the right, we have the genius of her class, Sakura Haruno. She is the _de facto_ top of her class. On the middle, Naruto Uzumaki... First of all, I still have to ask you. Are these results mixed up with another student's?" asked the Hokage in pure disbelief. The silver-haired ninja sat comfortably on his chair, listening to the leader of the village.

"We can assure you that Naruto did score those marks. I've already gotten it confirmed by Iruka-sensei of the academy. And to answer your question, yes. As a matter of fact, I do believe that I'm the only one capable of handling this team," replied Kakashi with his leg crossed.

"Hmph... Naruto purposefully lowered his marks. He's no fool. Ever since I gave him access to my personal library, the boy's been nothing short of a genius. Whether he was seeking the affection of Sakura or gravitated towards the Uchiha who'd have quite a few things in common with him, the point still stands. And Kakashi, don't let your hubris cloud your judgment," he advised as he puffed some smoke from his pipe.

"I implore you not to rearrange the team. Despite the obvious power difference between team 7 and other teams, these students complement each other's abilities, which is the desired factor in deciding team arrangments," he paused for a moment. "But Naruto must have something in store, either way, and I feel inclined to see the outcome, and besides, I'd love to see the power of Konoha's Jinchuriki," said Kakashi, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

"Well... you are one of the strongest Jonin present who could become their sensei. If anyone, it's you who deserves the spot," he conceded as he stroked his goatee. "I trust you," he mumbled. A few seconds passes before Kakashi continued.

"If I'm not mistaken, Naruto aims to become a hokage, right? I mean, as his father is Minato Namikaze, it is his birth-right to inherit his father's will, no?" asks Kakashi in a casual tone of voice.

"Naruto _is_ the descendant of that man, but every similarity afterward ceases there. I have no doubt that Naruto would make an... autocratic Hokage. This village does need some autocracy on a certain level," he let his remark float for a moment. "Naruto's got a noble ambition, but his philosophy is twisted. His end result involves ensuring this village's prosperity and general happiness, but he'd go to any length to see it through," he mused. "Naruto's the only logical choice at the moment. Despite his age, I would be more comfortable entrusting this village to him than to that wretched Danzo,". He faces upwards as he blows the smoke.

* * *

Kakashi had expected that Naruto was an above average shinobi, but for him to have thought of his team's strength before his own... no. His motivation was surely based on his own will to grow in strength. After all, a ninja team is only as good as it's weakest link. That particular lesson was always drilled into every aspiring shinobi's skulls. If he wishes to grow in strength, he needs strong teammates.

At any rate, Kakashi could relax, now, knowing that he had a trusty student to do his job for him. If anything, he was even more inclined to laze around, not worrying about training his team until it's absolutely necessary.

Naruto had been traveling with his team for three days, now. The journey was, for the most part, eventless, much to Naruto's chagrin. He'd hoped to experience another fight before not long, anyways, and the recent turn of events had bored him. He still had a team to train, though, so it was all well for him. Sasuke had learned to transform his chakra into the fire element long ago. He used his fireball technique a lot more efficiently, now that he has more experience with chakra control. Sakura had yet to learn any great techniques. Naruto had made it a mental note to gift her some Yin release scrolls that she could learn from. Her chakra reserve was minuscule, but her chakra control was by far outmatched, even against Naruto's. She'd make a legendary medical-nin if she applied herself properly, but more importantly, she would make a competent teammate.

Most of the journey through the forests of the Land of Fire was done with haste. Naruto and Sasuke had been forced to carry the old man on their backs in turns as he was too slow to keep up with the Leaf ninjas' inhuman pace. When he said 'double the haste', his escorts certainly perceived it differently. As a result, they arrived close to the shore separating them from the once-great Land of Waves. What's more was that it was early at dawn, just before the sunrise. From their field of view, they could spot a bridge which was on the brink of being completed, if it wasn't for a huge gap separating both ends.

From their field of view, they could spot a bridge which was on the brink of being completed, if it wasn't for a huge gap separating both ends. _Tazuna's bridge_ thought Naruto. Indeed it was. Tazuna managed to signal a ferryman nearby such that they could cross the lake safely. Although there was little that could stump four ninja from simply walking or swimming over, Tazuna had enough of the indignant piggy-backs he was forced into due to circumstance. The ferryman arrived swiftly and took off even swifter.

"Tazuna, are these the ninja that you hired?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes, what of it?" replied the old man in a casual voice, not bothering to pipe down.

"Thank the gods, we will be able to complete the bridge now, won't we?" he asked, jovially. Tazuna huffed in an annoyed voice.

"It's too early to celebrate, youngling. Pop the sake bottles only until we finish our task," he replied. After a pause, the man replied.

"Anyways, old man. You're in early! You were supposed to come in four days, or at least that's what you said," he noted. Tazuna couldn't reply to the man as he shuddered. The indignation he had experienced from being carried by two boys almost one-fifth his age was too much to have been washed off so quickly. At any rate, he was glad that his haste had proven to have been fruitful. Gatou wouldn't expect him this early, and neither would any other mercenary or assassin he sends the old man's way.

"Nevermind that! Just keep rowin'!" he yelled. The man, flustered as he was, began rowing even quicker. Tazuna had taken a deep breath and let it out in relief.

"Thanks. I mean that to all of ya," said the old bridge builder as he looked down at his feet. "I can't even begin to show you my appreciation. If all goes well, the incoming commerce will surely allow me to pay ya lot off," he almost mumbled. Kakashi was engrossed in his novel while Sakura simply looked outwards at the horizon, appreciating the rising sun. Both Sasuke and Naruto sat still, enjoying the scenery. Kakashi looked up at what the man said.

"Hm? Ah, the payment needs to be done within two months. If the payment won't be made, bad things might happen," taunted the sensei in a joke full voice. The old man simply grunted.

"Surprisingly, I don't even want to know what that entails. As for you three children, thank you for protecting me thus far," he continued thanking the genin team. Naruto looked towards the old man giving a ghost of a smile.

"Don't sweat it, Mr. Tazuna. It's just the job of a ninja, that's all," exclaimed Sakura enthusiastically. Both the old man and Sakura giggled in good spirits. All in all, their mission didn't seem quite dangerous thus far.

* * *

"Tsunami! Tsunami!" yelled Tazuna from the front of his house. The ninja team stood assembled with him. They were waiting for Tazuna's only daughter, Tsunami, to open the door. The inside sounded like a tornado. God's knew what was happening inside.

"Coming, father!" she yelled from inside the house. Despite them being separated by walls, her voice was almost too audible. A few seconds later came the young woman. She opened the door for Tazuna and the rest to step inside as she bowed to her visitors.

"I am so sorry if the house looks like a pig's sty. It's just..." she paused before throwing a mean glare at the old man. " _Somebody_ didn't tell me that he'd arrive so early," she spat bitterly. "Oh, well. At any rate, make yourselves at home, ninja of the Hidden Leaf!" she exclaimed almost too enthusiastically. Their early arrival had obviously thrown the girl off somewhat, which could explain the entire awkwardness of this whole encounter.

"Anyways, let my daughter show you to your rooms. You must need some sleep after tirelessly bringing me all the way from the Hidden Leaf to here," he bragged. The four were directed to their rooms, but before that, they encountered the son of Tsunami, Inari.

"What are you guys doing here? You'll die!" yelled the boy distraughtly. Inari's mother, Tsunami grabbed hold of the child before pulling him out of the way angrily.

"Inari, that is no way to talk to our guests! Apologize!" she yells. The boy wouldn't show any remorse.

"Why should I? All they'll do here is die! Heroes don't exist!" he screamed as he ran away in tears. The mother shook her head as she held a palm to her forehead.

"I am so sorry for all that. Don't mind him, he's had a rough time," she apologized. The rest of the team waved it off like it was nothing much.

"Leave him be, people. Just go on ahead to your bedrooms. The young girl will share her room with my daughter while the rest'll bunk with me," he ordered. The ninja team continued on and found their respective beds to catch up with some lost hours of sleep. Their rest didn't last long before Kakashi rose his head from his pillow abnormally quickly, startling both the boys slightly. He signed a brief message with his hand. The message read _Danger nearby; Jonin level._ Short and concise, the sign language was built for brevity and subtlety. Both the boys nodded in understanding. Whatever the case, they had agreed to protect Tazuna. Sasuke darted out the room and took to the nearby balcony such that he could climb atop a rooftop. He could finally feel the incoming foe. The chakra he felt startled him as it was abnormally potent. He felt it, though, and he did his best to calculate when he would arrive.

While he did this, Naruto sat perched atop a treetop not far away from the house, where he'd gained a good vantage point over both the house and the forest it was facing to its front, past the docks. Kakashi had roused Sakura awake and briefed her on the details. Sakura left the room quickly and sat on another treetop opposite Naruto's, thus having triangulated the house together with her teammates. The enemy was only one according to her chakra sense, and because of this, she was at a slight ease. Kakashi formed the center of the triangle. Suddenly, a mist formed. It was a thick mist, and the way it was formed was unnatural. The water almost surrounding the house suddenly started steaming. The mist rose from the nearby lake slowly, and when it reached a high enough altitude, the mist spread out across the soon-to-be battlefield with the new arrival. The unknown foe slipped through the three genin's expanded triangle with ease, little to any of their concerns. There he stood face to face with Kakashi.

The man had bandages around his mouth, covering his lower face, almost mirroring Kakashi's style. What was most significant with him, though, was the large, pillar-looking sword he held at his back, despite him making no sound. What could be observed from his eyes was an intense glare.

"My target of assassination is behind you. I suggest you move... now," growled the assassin ominously.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," he responded. "Team!" he yelled. "Triangulate the house. I'll tend to the new arrival," he stated, shortly. As the two figures leaped from their trees, the assassin was ready to intercept them. He leaped upwards and would have captured one of the genin if it wasn't for their sensei, who appeared right in front of the assassin, a kunai ready in his hands. They struck both their kunai at the same time, pushing each other back from the force of the encounter. Both the ninja landed deftly and faced each other once again.

Kakashi only prayed that his team had evacuated the bridge-builder in time, while the assassin's eyes glared lividly at the sensei.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan, huh? You're in my bingo book," he muttered in a half-whisper.

"Zabuza Momochi, I take it. A missing-nin of the village hidden in the mist? Whatever it may be, you won't be able to fulfill your mission, and if it comes to it, I'll personally see to it that you die," he replied.

"We'll see," he muttered before dashing towards the sensei at an unbelievable speed, striking hard with his kunai. Kakashi, with his inhuman reflexes, managed to draw his own knife and parry the oncoming blows, each parry conducted fluidly and precisely. Zabuza kicked backward, away from the leaf shinobi, before reaching to his back to draw his giant sword.

"Consider yourself lucky. Few have made me draw my Kubikiribōchō. Today I've made an exception," he stated proudly, wielding the giant blade, pointing it upwards as he held it with one arm.

"I'm flattered," replied Kakashi sarcastically. The assassin quickly pointed the blade backward as he dashed forwards, slashing the sword downwards vertically. Kakashi held his kunai upwards such that he could parry the blade, but the moment the blade touched the kunai, the small knife began splitting. Kakashi, in the nick of time, used a substitution Jutsu such that he could avoid the sure-kill blow. He appeared behind Zabuza, stabbing him in the back, but to Kakashi's surprise, what leaked from the wound was water. Kakashi quickly looked backward to see the real Zabuza, attempting a stab with his own kunai. Kakashi parried the kunai strike, which both pushed them backward, further away from each other.

"Unfortunately, I can't afford to drag this battle out any longer," announced Kakashi before pushing his headband upwards, thus uncovering his left eye, which was revealed to be a Sharingan eye.

"And neither can I. This ends here, Kakashi," declared Zabuza, sheathing his blade, once again. Zabuza was preparing to unleash a flurry of hand seals before Naruto suddenly appeared next to Kakashi, inexplicably.

"The bridge builder's been taken out for lunch with his family. The house is empty," said Naruto, deliberately filling his speech with double-meanings. Kakashi, not even bothering to look to his side, simply nodded in acknowledgment. Naruto then prepared to return to where he came from. With a swift body flicker, he took off, but not before Zabuza pursued him. His pursuit, however, was cut short by a kunai blocking his path. The kunai was held by Kakashi, as swift as ever. Zabuza, startled by the move, jumped backward, away from the kunai and faced his enemy once again.

"I suggest you don't go after him. Your fight is with me, and besides..." Kakashi paused for a second. "That particular genin would actually be able to kill you," he stated.

"Kill me? In his eyes, I saw darkness, yes. He's no ordinary genin, but do you really... even for a second think that he could kill me?!" he exclaimed in raw anger. A split second afterward, the assassin raced through a series of quick hand seals and unleashed a water dragon Jutsu, but fortunately, Kakashi, with his own Sharingan, mirrored the movements almost simultaneously. Kakashi's own water dragon Jutsu clashed with Zabuza's in a collision of serpentine water dragons. Zabuza's eye twitched for a second.

"So... this is the power of the Sharingan? A battle of attrition it is, then," he announced. He raced through his own hand seals again, but this time paying attention to Kakashi's own movement. To his utter shock, Kakashi mirrored his movements almost perfectly. He stopped the hand seals and began running circularly, and stopped abruptly. Kakashi followed suit nigh perfectly. He tried an obscure stance, which Kakashi followed almost completely.

"Kakashi, you bastard...!" he muttered almost silently. "Fine, then. No hand seals, it is," he whispered to himself. He summoned half a dozen water clones, who all charged at Kakashi simultaneously. Kakashi was surprised by the sudden change in tactics and was thus pushed back by the onslaught of attacks from the weaker water clones. After handling every water clone, the real Zabuza charged inwards with a double palm strike, which Kakashi blocked expertly, evening out the impact throughout his body, but unfortunately for him, he was launched backwards, towards the lake, which he landed on deftly, activating his water walking technique the moment he made contact with the water surface.

"You're in my world, now, Kakashi!" yelled Zabuza from fifty yards away, but he cut the distance short in a split second with an incredible dash. He managed to get close enough to Kakashi because he was still reeling from the double palm strike, and activated his water prison Jutsu. Water began covering the silver-haired ninja, keeping him enclosed and unable to move at all.

"You're dead!" he exclaimed. Zabuza couldn't move with the water prison Jutsu, so he created a water clone to finish the task. The water clone materialized and drew its own kubikiribôchô. The giant blade was held high, but the moment it began flying downwards, the clone was impaled from the back of its head by a flying kunai, dispelling the clone instantly. Around twenty yards behind the denatured clone stood the blond genin, with a smug smirk plastered on his face.

"Make all the clones you want. I'll kill'em just as fast. And then I'll kill you, ya know, unless you release my sensei," he stated, sending a small shiver down Zabuza's spine, but he regained heart just as quickly. "I believe the term I should be using when in this particular situation is... check mate?" he joked, which angered Zabuza even more.

"Come and get me, brat!" yelled the disgruntled assassin.

"I'll oblige," replied Naruto, who closed the distance one step after another. Zabuza only realized his situation a few seconds later, seeing the full depth of the boy's strength. With each and every step, he realized just how fast he could be killed, in his current defenseless state. He considered letting go of Kakashi, but realized just how much face he could lose. Could he ever let himself get over it if he cowered before a boy a third his own age, who hadn't even done anything, to begin with?

With each and every step, Zabuza's heart rate rose. He realized what he needed to do. If he were to live, he needed to let go of Kakashi and wait for another chance to strike, this time with his comrade. He prepared to let his right arm dispell the Jutsu. Naruto caught on to this, and dashed forwards, a kunai at the ready. Both their faces were inches away from each other.

"See you in hell," said Naruto, before going for a slash to the assassin's neck. What came right before, however, were two senbon needles seven inches long, which flew right into Zabuza's neck, causing him to drop, sinking straight through the water as he could no longer keep himself afloat. Naruto paused and looked towards the area in which the senbon was thrown. Atop a tree stood a masked ninja with a long braid. The ninja jumped upwards, towards the lake, and made a swan-dive straight downwards, after the sunken assassin. Moments later, the ninja resurfaced, carrying the very much dead assassin, Zabuza Momochi. Naruto grabbed hold of the ninja's shoulder.

"And who the hell do you think you are?" he asked, blood boiling with anger. The ninja looked back slowly, before turning around to face Naruto, but the blond hardly lets go of the ninja's shoulder.

"I am a hunter-nin of the Hidden Mist, and that's all you need to know about me, other than that this fellow is a missing ninja, and it's my duty to destroy him lest our village secrets are leaked," replied the androgynous hunter-nin. Naruto fastened the clench on the hunter-nin's shoulder, but Kakashi reached for Naruto's arm and patted it gently.

"Let it go, Naruto. Let the hunter-nin do his job," said Kakashi sternly. Naruto didn't release his hold.

"He was my target. I was just about to kill him, or in other words, _do your job_ ," persisted Naruto. The hunter-nin obliged the blond further by continuing to talk.

"It would be a dishonor to have a missing-nin from our own village to be killed by an opposing village such as the hidden leaf. Now if you'll excuse me," attempted the hunter-nin. Naruto lets go of his shoulder and allowed him to walk a few meters forward. The hunter-nin crouched down, preparing for the body flicker technique, but was cut short by another comment by Naruto.

"An awfully unorthodox way of assassinating someone, right sensei? I mean... senbon needles to the neck?" asked Naruto to Kakashi, but spoke in a manner which allowed the hunter-nin to overhear him.

"I have to agree on that one facet, but you can't begin to accuse anyone based on that, now can you?" continued Kakashi. The hunter-nin almost triggered the body flicker technique but was cut short by Naruto, who held the crouching hunter-nin down with a hand to his shoulder.

"I don't think we're done here, 'hunter-nin'," Naruto sounded the last phrase sarcastically.

"I'll have to ask you to back off, leaf-ninja, if not I'll be forced to attack you," ordered the hunter-nin, who was clearly angered.

"Sensei, aren't hunter-nin usually in squads? How come this one came alone?" asked Naruto teasingly. Kakashi began genuinely wondering.

"Naruto... you do have a point," he pauses for a second before approaching the hunter-nin. "Let me investigate a little," he muttered as he water-walked towards the hunter-nin. The hunter-nin quickly reached for his kunai, attempting a slash at the hand that was pinning him down. It was too fast for Naruto to avoid, earning him a hefty slash running through his palm, almost chopping it off if it wasn't for Naruto's reflexes. The young blond staggered for a second before reaching for his own kunai with his left hand, letting his healing factor take care of the slash, aided by his nine-tails chakra. Kakashi dashed towards the offending hunter-nin with his kunai, but with a swift body-flicker, the ninja disappeared.

"Not on my fucking watch," muttered Naruto silently to himself, charging for a dash towards the hunter-nin. With a quick dash, he caught up to the offending hunter-nin quickly. He jumped from a nearby tree branch and tackled the hunter-nin swiftly, causing him to fall along with his luggage. The hunter-nin shook Zabuza's body off of him and unleashed a flurry of senbon needles directed at Naruto. Naruto summoned a group of clones in front of him and substituted them for logs, making it such that the shuriken hit logs instead of clones. The clones were placed atop of trees due to the substitution technique. They rained down, armed with their kunai and explosive tags, in a bid to suicide-bomb their target.

The hunter-nin raced through a series of different hand seals before announcing his Jutsu.

"Ice release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!" he yelled, materializing a dome of ice surrounding both him and Zabuza. The clones hit the dome and let their explosive tags explode, but the dome didn't leave a single scratch. "And... Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals!" he announced, melting the ice dome, but conjuring a multitude of mirrors arranged circularly, and stacked upwards. Naruto stood within the circle of mirrors, along with the hunter-nin and Zabuza. The hunter-nin jumped in through a single mirror and his reflection was seen throughout all mirrors.

"I'll end this immediately," he muttered silently to himself. He shot through one of the mirrors that stood behind Naruto, going for a flanking attack, and landing a senbon at his leg. Naruto grunted in pain and pulled out the senbon quickly. The hunter-nin released scores more senbon needles at Naruto, who was still shocked at what this technique even entailed, and was caught off-guard, much to the offending hunter-nin's benefit. The so-called hunter-nin obviously wasn't intending on drawing the battle out any longer than it needed to be, so he summoned his own squad of ice clones, designated to counter Naruto for as long as possible. The hunter-nin released the demonic mirrors and picked up Zabuza with haste, and dashed away along with two genjutsu pairs of himself and Zabuza, throwing Naruto, whom had already defeated the ice clones but was still recovering from the severe senbon wounds he was inflicted. Naruto, trying to attain a calm state, realized that the offending hunter-nin had succeeded in escaping for now. Not a moment after his escape, the silver-haired sensei arrived.

"I take it he managed to escape," summarized Kakashi using the obvious evidence that stood before him.

"If he wasn't so damn bent on getting away, I might have gotten him," lamented Naruto almost silently, staring at the ground in seething anger. "No... I just wasn't strong enough," he spat, in a toxic tone. Kakashi, sensing that there would be no more fighting that day, pulled his headband down, covering his Sharingan eye, once again.

Kakashi ignored the boy's complaints and simply ordered him to return to Tazuna's residence, along with him. A minute later, team 7 regrouped in front of the bridge builder's house.

"What happened to the assassin?" asked Sasuke in his trademark monotonous tone. Sasuke stood next to Sakura, who was holding a kunai tightly, still shaken up by the encounter, despite her not being there.

"Fucker got away, along with his buddy," spat Naruto, not bothering to mask his obvious anger. Kakashi rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"What Naruto meant to say was that the assassin got away with what a person that was most likely an accomplice of his, masquerading as a hunter-nin. He would have gotten away scot-free if it wasn't for Naruto's detective work, too," he stated, congratulating the blond on a low key. Sakura felt a mild sense of apprehension at the boy's anger, not daring to look him in the eyes for even a second, but Sasuke was indifferent.

"Doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done," admitted Naruto, momentarily after Kakashi's speech. Kakashi debriefed the three genin on the bridge builder's evacuation.

"And what became of the bridge builder and his family?" he asked. Sasuke took the initiative to answer.

"They were secured in a nearby town inn. All three of us were guarding it at the same time, so security was tight," summarized Sasuke, indifferently.

"Great. Now, for the rest of the mission, we'll take turns in guarding the bridge builder as he finishes his bridge. While waiting, I suggest you all continue your training, especially you, Sakura," he suggested, provoking a shocked reaction from the pink-haired kunoichi. Both the boys remained indifferent, though. Naruto was still calming down, but Sasuke simply didn't care.

"You... knew we were training behind your back?" she asked incredulously. Kakashi simply nodded shortly before drawing his erotic pocket novel and began reading it.

* * *

A/N:

I finally finished my two scientific essays (And a shitload of other assignments (even though they were two or more days overdue)) and I'm so sorry for the late update.

I have bullshitted through so much of my school work just so I could get a solitary hour of solid sleep, and frankly, writing the fic really wasn't that far ahead on my priorities list. But then I thought of the twenty or so beautiful souls out there, all over the world, who gave me the pleasure of following my story. I couldn't retire it just yet. I still have a story to tell, a story which Kishimoto Masashi surely will sue me for, since it'll overshadow his own work. (not so humble brag)

But in all honesty, thanks for still following my story, and as always, reviews are LOVE. *mwah*

Also, please, please, please! Please just tell me the things you DON'T like about my fic. I just can't bear having this weird feeling of unease that something cringy that I wrote is on the internet, so please just tell me what's wrong with my fic on the reviews so I'll be able to better my writing.


	5. Land of Waves 4: Small man, big shadow

_Chapter_ 4

The Land of Waves

A small man who casts a very large shadow

 _"Cash rules everything around me, C.R.E.A.M get the money  
Dollah dollah bill y'all"_

-Wu Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M

::::::-/-\\-::::::::::::-/-\\-::::::

Naruto stood idly in the middle of a clearing in a forest located closely to the land of waves. It was dark, and the trees cast shadows from the moonlight and contorted them in an ungodly fashion. Every rustle of leaves would disturb the intricate shadow pattern and would be enough to scare any child out of the forest.

Naruto, needless to say, wasn't just any child. Closely to him lay Sasuke on the ground, resting after a hard day of training and sparring with the enigmatic blond, Naruto. Naruto was always insistent that his teammates grow in strength, and thus, Sasuke sparred with Naruto while Sakura guarded the bridge builder during her shift. While looking at the full moon, a small rumbling was felt inside of him, a brief reminder of Kurama's presence. Because of the full moon, Naruto felt a sudden urge to visit the fox-spirit dwelling inside of him. Tonight, he was to meet the nine-tailed fox.

'A rendezvous with the terrible and mighty nine-tailed fox', as fate might have it. The visit was overdue, and Naruto knew that he needed to appease the beast lest they were to fall out. Naruto regularly displayed an air of bravado and nonchalance, but if there's one thing that he took seriously the most, it would be his relationship with the nine-tails…

…or rather, the nine-tailed beast's chakra. Everything Naruto wanted was interwoven with that foul entity. His wish for power such that he could become as strong as possible, and to eventually take charge of the hidden leaf as the Hokage at some point in time in the future remained strong as always. Nobody could oppose his resolve on that.

At any rate, Sasuke was fast asleep, and nobody was nearby, so Naruto entered a lotus pose and concentrated deeply before his very reality crumbled and he was transported elsewhere. To the oh-so-familiar murky and damp sewer-like corridor leading up to a vast room where the fox, Kurama, as he named himself, resided behind bars sealed by the mighty Minato Namikaze, the fourth hokage. Naruto approached the cage slowly, and the fox woke up from his slumber ever-so-subtly.

"Come to see me, boy?" asked the fox, Kurama.

"Haven't done it in ages, so I figured that now would be the time," replied Naruto. "Kurama, I've been..."

"Save it, Naruto. I know what you want. Power is what you seek the most. I will not persecute you for drawing from my chakra," he assured. The fox was a lot calmer than the first time they met, signifying that they've developed a stable relationship, one that even Naruto could admire.

"As always, thank you, Kurama. However, I wish to discuss with you the upcoming battles I will be having," Naruto baited, knowing that the fox would be excited with a prospective bloodshed.

"Go on, boy,"

"As it seems, I've met some strong opponents... ones that will make me have to use your chakra. I came here thinking that you'd have a problem with that, but it doesn't seem so," Naruto stated to the attentive fox-spirit.

"Naruto, do you doubt my ability to provide you with the necessary strength to defeat your enemies?" asked the fox-spirit passive-aggressively. Naruto was startled by the comment but didn't show it. Instead, he chuckled, reassuring himself.

"Of course not. Can't a guy show some diligence without seeming like a smart-Alec?" he asked rhetorically. "I don't think I'd lose to anyone at the moment. If anything, I'd rather tone myself down, ya know, so that I can draw the battle out for as long as possible," stated Naruto jokingly. Kurama simply scoffed.

"You are a violent one, aren't you? Well, no matter. You are my host and only one that has been able to befriend me, no less," said Kurama in a casual tone.

"That's precious coming from a creature responsible for the deaths of thousands in a bloody rampage," Naruto commented off-handedly. Kurama humoured it by grunting in an amused manner.

"I was imprisoned within your mother for quite some time, but that woman... Mito Uzumaki, a name I can't forget no matter how much I try..." Kurama's growling intensified in a crescendo of rage, masked by a calm voice. "The bitch..." he spat "Lived until the crisp age of one hundred and _twenty eight_ years, 6 months, two days, thirteen hours, 54 minutes and twelve measly... fucking... seconds. Nobody with mortal flesh should live that long. When I finally tasted freedom from that decripit old woman, a new vessel hosted me. Kushina Uzumaki. She was more... accomodating. Her seal wasn't too tight, unlike... Mito's _._ Hers was prone to breaking sooner than later. I was sealed into Mito by the famous sealing masters of the Uzushiogakure, the village hidden in the whirlpools. As a result, Mito and I were all but cut off from each other. I had no way to affect her at all. Thence came the fall of Uzushiogakure, and as a result, its sealing masters. Minato was an expert, but not a master. He could seal me, but that was the extent of his capabilities. When that wretched old bitch, that red haired, uppity bitch, was nearing her end, they had to move me. Kushina wasn't too bad of a host.

"This bloody rampage as you refer to it... call me violent, but it was pure, unaltered pleasure... Well, I don't regret a single second in killing both your parents at all. My biggest regret in life was not getting to those whirlpool bastards before somebody else did..." concluded the disgruntled fox spirit. The only reason why he had let Kurama entertain the fact that he claimed both Naruto's parents lives was for the simple reason that anything he had done before he had befriended Naruto was due to the fox spirit's naturally malevolent chakra, but combined with a human's chakra in conjunction with its own, the beast had gained more clarity and sanity.

After all, one could hardly blame a once-insane creature for taking pleasure in killing its captor. Naruto chuckled at the last part before asking another question. Something in Kurama's rant caught his attention.

"Uzushiogakure, huh? The Hidden Whirlpool, huh? Or might I say Konoha's biggest failure?" Naruto laughed, finding it hysterical. "Their sealing Jutsu - their Fuinjutsu - was so strong, a band of sealing masters could very well have taken on the legendary... well... _you_ by themselves! And all the same, they fell to an enemy village? The world sure does contradict itself, doesn't it?" Naruto let his rhetoric float in the air.

"It is as though there are other beings that are entertained by the affairs of men and beast," Kurama commented off-handedly. Naruto tensed for a second before becoming serious.

"What if, though? All this... it seems too convenient for something that anyone should live through. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or something to worry about," and Naruto was being serious. Sure, he did like the way life was going for him at the moment. He wasn't having any more troubles, and his strength has only grown more and more intense by the time he became a genin. If this whole thing really was a play, and some omnipotent being was laughing off his socks at what's going on, everything he'd done up until this point just seemed to lose meaning if it wasn't genuinely something only Naruto was responsible for.

Well, _yeah,_ granted he was born with the blood of the Uzumaki, humans with exceptional vitality and longevity, and to top it off, the chakra of the nine-tails. But it was Naruto himself who opened the doors. Naruto had, with a few pushes, triggered his own growth in strength. His thoughts, however, were cut off short by Kurama.

"A thing I once picked up from a man that was once my host, a wise man that isolated himself in a mountain, away from any human being for years. He was quite a strange human, for he was compassionate. He was always talking to me, despite us not being connected in the room of sealing, like you and I are now. He always voiced his opinions out loud in the world of humans, in hopes that I could hear him. He was compassionate that way, as he would always make an effort to entertain me while keeping me imprisoned. One day, he grew erratic and paranoid. He began talking more and more, but after five sleepless days and nights, he resorted to traveling to the greatest mountain and to live there, pondering a question for the remainder of his life. That question? 'Am I real?'.

"That question would never leave his mind. The time spent in the mountains, for forty years, with no food or drink, but only the natural chakra to feed him, he pondered this question, never leaving his spot. He grew weaker physically, but his mental fortitude only increased exponentially. The room of sealing became more and more cramped as the walls grew inwards. He became so infinitely strong mentally, but unimaginably weak physically. Not even Mito had sealed me as securely as that man.

"One day, he reached an epiphany. Like an ancient Buddha, he reached enlightenment. He said these words, the words even I had been waiting in anticipation for. He told me that 'anything that cannot be proven, and may only remain a hypothesis due to the lack of a method of retrieving evidence, is not worth proving'. The answer was no answer, but just a way to give up, or so I thought. With his infinite affinity for chakra and his mental fortitude, he could have become the strongest warrior in existence, with not a single ounce of chakra borrowed from me. But it was there that he chose to die. For the first time in years, he stood up, charging his body with his chakra gathered by his infinite wisdom. He smiled before looking up to the sky, whispering a faint 'take me'. The old man suddenly began withering with the wind. I was reminded just how weak he was physically, while pieces of him flew like dust. There was no blood, as that, too, had dried up long ago. He was already dead in all but his mind. With a final breath, the old man disappeared, leaving me in the world of humans, free once again.

"He was the first host I ever took an interest to, so his words followed me wherever I went. Never knew what it really meant until now. I'd say you should follow that advice," suggested Kurama. Naruto looked up at the enormous beast inside its cage

"That's quite unlike you, ya know. The few things you do say about your former hosts were how much you wanted to strangle them by their jugulars while skipping rope with their intestines," joked Naruto. Kurama laughed in his regularly calm voice before grunting in silence. Naruto, sensing that something was off, had to know what it was.

"What's wrong?" asked Naruto, more curious than anxious.

"Well, if it isn't Shukaku's chakra…" mumbled the fox-spirit, but Naruto, of course, still heard it.

"Shukaku? Who's that?" he asked, this time more interested.

"Let's just say he's an old friend…" replied Kurama.

"Friend? You've got friends?" asked Naruto incredulously, before suddenly realizing the answer. "It's another tailed beast, isn't it?" Naruto asked, now more interested than ever.

"Shukaku, the one-tailed Raccoon dog… we aren't exactly friends… let's just say I was something you'd like to call 'a dick' once upon a time, and Shukaku was primarily the subject of my bullying," clarified Kurama.

"You said something about Shukaku's chakra, though… what's going on, exactly?" asked Naruto, hating that he was left in the dark.

"His chakra, although weak, suddenly pushed outwards, towards me… I have a strong feeling that either he or his Jinchuriki is making a move. That cursed fool," Kurama swore.

"The Jinchuriki of the one-tails…? If I recall correctly, that's the hidden sand's Jinchuriki," mumbled Naruto. A moment later, he grew a wild and excited grin.

"Kurama, we might have to fight in the near foreseeable future," he beamed. It almost came as a shock to him, though, that he still had responsibilities in the real world. He needed to take Sasuke back to Tazuna's home as he, himself wasn't able to do it, as a result of his overexertion.

"This conversation sure was fruitful. I look forward to seeing you once again," said Naruto.

"Don't let the door hit you on your way out," replied the fox-spirit.

Naruto awoke at the same clearing in the forest, to a starry night sky. Glancing to the left, he found a still-unconscious Sasuke, who he picked up and slung over his shoulder before heading homewards.

* * *

Sakura was trying to find their own ways to pass time as she and her sensei, Kakashi were tasked with the duty of watching over the bridge builder Tazuna. Kakashi, as always, had his erotic novel to keep him busy, but Sakura was forced to bet on which cloud would overtake the other as she stared at the sky. The two boys were busy training in the forest, which was the only reason why Sakura was delegated this task.

"Remind me why I'm not allowed to go with the others to train?" she asked, despite her knowing the answer.

"Now, Sakura. You wouldn't want to ruin their alone-time, would you? This relationship of theirs could develop into something... illicit," he voiced the last words in a sing-song tone likened to a school-girl. Sakura turned red from second-hand embarrasment. After all, nobody was going to steal _her_ Sasuke-kun from her, especially not a guy!

"That's too far, even for you!" she yelled, despairingly. Throughout the day, she had gotten the same answer to her initial question. 'It was pointless', 'You can't learn anything from them' and 'that's not your path'.

"Why, I answered your question earlier in fifteen different ways. I wouldn't expect the top-of-her-class Kunoichi to want a sixteenth iteration," he replied. Sakura sulked.

"Well, you only told me the same answer using different words. Care to elaborate?" she asked, this time going for another approach. Kakashi lowered his book for a brief moment to reply.

"Well, hate to hurt your feelings, but you training along with Sasuke and Naruto would be like... let's say there are two huge Ninja Dogs, who found it necessary to train, because, how else can you grow in strength? Now, imagine a slug, yes, a slug would tag along with them. The puny slug would imitate the terrible might of the two Ninken, but to little avail, because, well, it's a damn slug. Suddenly, the slug starts growing depressed, and visits the local slug pub in a rising frequency.

"The slug begins to forget paying the bills and mortgage, which results in the imminent eviction of him and his entire family. His wife would leave the slug, and at the same time, have custody over the kiddie-slugs and move into her parents' house, which only becomes another blemish in the Slug's pride.

"Eventually, the slug finds his Tanto which he used in his old service days, enters his garden and arms his best friend with a Nodachi. The slug stabs himself in the tummy, and seconds afterwards, his buddy decapitates him. The end," recounted Kakashi, to a deadpanning Sakura. She opened her mouth, but closed it, repeat process a few more times, until she finally regains clarity.

"I get where you're coming from, ya know, concerning the first third of your story. The rest... eh... Alright, we've established that both Naruto and Sasuke are on a different league from mine," she recounted, giving up on making sense of the rest of Kakashi's example. The masked ninja gave a slow nod.

"Honestly, you've got nothing to learn from them. Your chakra reserve is painfully low, fitting that of an excellent medic-nin and genjutsu user. At the moment, the only thing you should be doing isn't focusing on how to overpower your enemy, but to outsmart them. You've got smarts, but no strength. Yin, but no Yang. Well, of course, throwing a mass of brains into a battlefield won't do anyone good, so I suggest you boost your strength. Physically, that is. I suggest you help Tazuna with construction. Do the heavy work, and at the same time, get this mission completed at a faster rate," suggested Kakashi, much to Sakura's understanding.

She had enough of Kakashi's pointless stories that only served to confuse her, and simply stood up and asked Tazuna whether there was any heavywork that they needed. Coincidentially, their crane was already in use, and they were desperate for some muscle to carry the girders to the under-construction side of the bridge. Sakura swallowed her feminine pride and did the deed. Pumping chakra directly to her muscles was hard work, but she was as efficient as a machine. No chakra was wasted, and overuse was practically erased.

Sakura was a genius at chakra-control, but Kakashi would rather have it as 'a really poor accountant who spends his money with utmost efficiency'. Few understood the workings of that man's brain, and his students less so.

By dusk, Tazuna had declared Sakura's effort as 'god-sent', and it had pushed their agenda forward by an entire day! These shinobi would be leaving anytime now, and when commerce finally begins, Tazuna would finally have served his country to his best.

* * *

A pile of papers lay neatly stacked atop each other, next to a wide selection of different office-tools and other gadgets that helped the elderly leader in his work. The Hokage was, indeed, a busy man. The fact that he had entertained the wish of some anxious parent to speak to him, simply because of the fact that the Jinchuriki was in her daughter's team was ludicrous to him, but he couldn't be surprised. He knew it would have come at some point.

"Honestly, Lord Hokage, do you really think that Sakura would be safe around that boy?" she asked, with a mother's genuine concern. The hokage had just completed his thirtyfifth consecutive hour of lack of sleep, and he could hardly afford to expend himself emotionally during this intercourse.

"I see absolutely no reason why not," he replied, perfectly matter-of-factly.

"I know this might seem baseless, but it's not just my instinct. I've seen it. After their first exercise together, she could hardly contain her excitement after she said the boy's name. She obviously had no sleep that night, either. She was visibly shaken up by whatever had occured the day before. He did something which has provoked me to speak with you," she persisted. The Hokage raised an eyebrow at this, but remained calm.

"Whatever the case, if they were in a conflict, I believe that it hadn't occurred again, has it? And Naruto isn't the type to act unless provoked," he replied. Madame Mebuki could hardly contain her anger at those words.

"My daughter is constantly around Naruto, which means that if the fox-spirit breaks out, she'll... I can't even say it! Naruto isn't like other kids. You can't just overlook the fact that he lost his temper at my girl!" she claimed. The Hokage, simply put, couldn't care for it.

"Madame Mebuki, I can assure you that Naruto can, and will not harm your daughter in any way, and neither can the nine-tails. However, the fact that you sought me out, badmouthing _my_ ward in the process, enrages me to no end! Delving into matters which you, a simple civilian, knows absolutely nothing about, is all sorts of stupid!

"The bottom line is, Naruto is a child. He is 12 years old, so the fact that you found it necessary to bring what is undoubtedly a children's squabble to _my_ attention, the Hokage of the leaf village, boggles my mind!" he snapped.

"Lord Hokage, forgive me, but I approach you as a guardian, nothing else. I worry for my daughter," she replied apologetically.

"Enough! Naruto cannot, and will not harm a fellow leaf ninja over a petty squabble, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I grow weary of this conversation. I suggest you leave," ordered the Hokage, hostility oozing from him. Without another word, the lady obeyed her Hokage, and promptly abandoned the building.

"The audacity," muttered the elderly man to himself. "Well, I better get some sleep, lest my temper becomes the direct cause of another great war," he concluded.

Not long afterwards, a courier-nin appeared by his window, giving a quick identifying hand sign. The hokage regarded him briefly before allowing him in. The courier handed over the letter he was carrying.

"From Kakashi Hatake. Updates on their mission. And another letter, regarding the Sandshield operation" he said briefly before disappearing, leaving the letter at the Hokage's office table. He reached for his scissor, opening the envelope. The contents of the letter were astounding. Kakashi's mission, which was supposedly C-ranked, had escalated into a possible A-rank, which was obviously above a genin's pay grade. But what really surprisde the Hokage was that Kakashi agreed to completing the mission, regardless of its difficulty.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing, Hatake," mumbled the Hokage. He reached for the operation letter and cut it open to read the contents. The letter was from Ibiki Morino, the scarred Special Jonin, who was the head of Torture and Interrogation.

 _Lord Hokage_

 _ANBU black ops have been stationed in key areas surrounding the Chunin examination building. The gate security has been buffed and the Chunin exam outline has been altered to an agreeable level, taking on account our manpower spent on security,_

 _Ibiki Morino_

"Good job, Morino," mumbled the Hokage to himself. "I suppose that this 'peace' has long-since overstayed its welcome, but upon my very life, I shall make sure we remain victorious."

* * *

The following morning quickly soured the three genin's days exceptionally early. Tired as they were from their previous day filled with training, they had fallen fast asleep, allowing the mischievous Jonin to do as he pleased with them. The first t hing he had done was glue them together, which had caused them a great deal of awkwardness. He had strewn different traps and an array of pranks throughout the house, at the discretion of the homeowner. By the time that Naruto had been able to escape the house, he had already become covered in paint, feathers, glitter and all sorts of other things. Sasuke and Sakura suffered the same fate, and the young genin were met with their conniving sensei, still reading his novel.

"Fifteen times…!" roared Naruto in anger. Kakashi hardly reacted to the outburst. Naruto deadpanned.

"Do I have to repeat myself?!" he yelled, this time causing Kakashi to sigh.

"If I bit the bait, it would have been too cliché for me to handle," he explained. Naruto gritted his teeth in exasperation.

"Then I'll just have to explain, don't I?! Had your 'pranks' carried any edge, you would have been able to kill us exactly fifteen times. Is this your way of outclassing us, _sensei?_ " he asked, his voice trembling with rage. Kakashi closed his book before raising his thumb.

"Bingo! I declare you all utterly weak!" announced Kakashi. "Let me explain. This team might consist of geniuses, prodigies, or vengeful kids thinking that they've felt true pain, but at the end of the day, none of them can compare to me. Reason? You are weak. Where you have strength, you lack analytical skills. Where you have intelligence, you lack raw power. Where you have all of the above, you lack one thing, something which can't be taught. Experience," he announced.

"Is this your way of saying 'respect your elders'?" asked Sakura annoyed. Kakashi chuckled at this.

"No. As your sensei, I am obligated to make sure that you become strong ninja in the future. Among my responsibilities is teaching you skills, but for today, we'll mainly do ninjutsu," he announced. The three genin suddenly grew interested.

"And before you ask, no, I won't check for your affinities, because that would be nothing but a waste of time. And no, Sakura, you won't be doing any elemental transformation. You'll be improving your muscle augmentation jutsu," he informed her.

"Jutsu? Well… that's not a jutsu… is it?" she asked.

"Well, the fireball jutsu isn't a jutsu either," Kakashi replied sarcastically.

"So… are you saying that I developed this jutsu on my own?" she asked.

"Well… I wouldn't say 'on your own'. Chakra enhancement isn't something new, but with enough use, you could be able to manage your chakra with inhuman precision, and this could help you in battle,"

"I'm confused, sensei. Is muscle augmentation really a jutsu?" she asked, still needing answers.

"It's a pre-requisite for a number of different taijutsu that you could perform. That way, it is indeed a ninjutsu," he concluded. "And as for you two," he pointed at the pair of boys. "Naruto, you look like a wind-type, judging by your personality, and Sasuke is obviously a fire type, if your signature technique is of any indication,".

Naruto was waiting for someone to teach him nature transformation. The Hokage forbade him to learn any advanced ninjutsu that wouldn't be taught to him by his future Jonin sensei. It was simply because the Hokage hardly had any time to teach Naruto, himself, and self-taught ninjutsu tended to go awry in the battlefield. The best bet would be to wait for someone capable of teaching him long-term.

And thus, the training commenced. Kakashi and Naruto had ordered two clones to watch over Tazuna while he continues with his construction . Wind natured chakra was very volatile, doubly so due to Naruto's extraordinary chakra reserve. Needless to say, several trees were cut that day. Sasuke had it a lot easier. He already knew how to transform his chakra into fire, so learning new applications to the fire-release was hardly something challenging. Kakashi, however, favoured teamwork. Naruto's wind could augment Sasuke's fire, making it cover a larger area of effect if the two worked in combination.

* * *

The man clicked his pen on his mahogany desk repeatedly. It was a nervous tick that he had, one that he tried to eliminate the best that he could, but in a job such as this, nervousness ensued.

Especially when dealing with missing-nin.

Both Zabuza and Haku had returned fruitless, and the bridge was nearing its completion by the minute. If he did nothing, he would begin to lose business, and losing business means losing money.

Gatou didn't like to lose money.

In his office room stood four people, whereas Gatou sat on his black-leathered chair. On each side of the room containing the only door stood Gatou's trusted and loyal swordsmen. Directly in front of him stood his two expendable rub-outs. Both were missing-nin of the village hidden in the mist. This village was notorious for its missing-nin, but muscle was muscle, especially when it came for cheap.

Gatou had gambled between yelling at the failed assassins, or to keep his mouth shut and simply gamble (again) that next time, they'd have returned bearing fruit. Unfortunately, his love for money was insurmountable. Nobody liked money like Gatou did.

"'Assassins', my ass! Both you two aren't worth shit! At this very moment, that goddamned-fucking bridge is closer and closer to when its done! Quit fucking around, you two, and bring me back that senile old fuck's head!" yelled Gatou.

"Don't fuck with me, short-stuff. We want a raise. We're fighting enemy ninja, here! There's no telling if I survive, so I suggest you pay the fuck up, unless you want me leaving on you," threatened Zabuza, now disgruntled. But the truth of the matter was that he wasn't planning on fighting the leaf nin.

Zabuza needed money, not blood. If Kakashi were alone, he might have been able to defeat him, but alas, he had that monstrous kid with him. _Reminds me of myself_ thought Zabuza. Zabuza had already ordered Haku to infiltrate Gatou's bank account in an attempt to rob him utterly blind.

Does honor really matter when everything's at stake?

Whatever the case, Zabuza knew what Gatou's answer would be. His death would be coming soon, and his greed would be his one deadly sin.

"How about you rip those gay bandages off yer face, dislocate your jaw while opening wide, and suck. My. Dick," replied Gatou, obscenely. _Bingo._ "How about you do your fucking job, then come and ask me for a raise, which you won't be getting, by the way, you disgraceful piece of shit! All my money is at stake here, motherfucker!".

Zabuza didn't need to have Gatou say that, but whatever made his final moments more regretful would just serve to better the kill that he'd get. At any rate, Haku was almost done mining Gatou's bank account credentials, and only needed a few more hours before completion was due. His ice-clone might have been weaker than the original copy, but clones had a multitude of non-combat applications which made them such an important jutsu.

Zabuza was a good actor. In any case, anyone who carried Zabuza's killing intent towards Gatou for a second would already have lunged on Gatou's neck, biting after the jugular, just from entering the same room as him. Zabuza despised Gatou, in every sense of the word.

"As you wish, _Mr. Gatou,"_ Zabuza was trying. He really was. It was only around three hours left before the bank details would be obtained. When Gatou rallies his thugs to the bridge, Zabuza would do the leaf-nin a personal favour, by offing Gatou and gifting them his head. What could he say? He was feeling charitable, after all.

* * *

A/N: Before you start

Yes, Grammarly says that my chapter has around 65 grammatical issues. My current laptop is fucking disgustingly slow and cannot be recommended to anyone.

Yes, 1 month and exactly 1 day since last update. Fuck me, right? I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. I've been mini-hiatusing, and while I was doing so, I read all the Chiaroscuro chapters til now. It's an awesome naruto fanfic that I definitely recommend 10/10.

I've had a shitton of work to do, and I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. Anyways, here's the chapter. I love you.

BTW I want to redo some of the older chapters since they pretty much suck. Not much, just removing some of the cringe, making Naruto a more relatable character while still not deviating from his whole I-will-one-day-become-hokage-and-all-shall-bow-down schtick.

I'm also trying to go with the whole "multiple-narratives-from-different-geographical-locations" thing by adding scenes from people far away from our MCs.

Also, don't forget to fucking REVIEW, MANG. Pls your opinion is appreciated, and I feel like writing this story more, the more you review. Anyways it's late as fuck and I feel like making contact with my bed intimately.

Love,

Sherlock D(ickhead) Holmes.


	6. Land of Waves 5: The Conclusion

_Chapter_ 5

The Land of Waves

The Conclusion

 _"It's high noon,"_

-McCree, Overwatch soldier.

::::::-/-\\-::::::::::::-/-\\-::::::

Operation Sand Shield.

Or rather, one of the Third Hokage's biggest gambles, but one he would bet all his chips on, all the same. It started with one of Naruto's current affairs lessons. These were lessons that Naruto had insisted on being taught in preparation for his eventual rise to the Hokage status. He was learning about economics, namely of the various hidden villages. On the matter concerning the hidden sand's economic recession, Naruto had, rightfully so, suggested the fact that it's economic instability could be grounds for a conflict, one that might leave Konoha devastated if not taken into account. The reason that Konoha could become a target was mainly due to the convenience. The Chunin exam was right around the corner, and the circumstances were opportune.

The Hokage was no fool, despite what his age might suggest. He had already considered that the hidden sand might cause aggression but had dismissed it as a foolhardy endeavour, and one that might leave the hidden sand in an even worse state than it is already in. Naruto begged to differ.

Desperation could lead to anything, and Naruto had reminded the Hokage about that, using the failed invasion of the hidden grass at the hands of the hidden rain as a reference point. The hidden rain was out of options, and needed to strike, lest their resources reduce to a number which had no possibility to sustain such a large amount of people. The hidden grass forces had eradicated the aggressors using superior tactics and manpower, leaving the hidden rain at a worse state than before, but luckily, they had secured a treaty of non-aggression which stated that rain would be given resources as foreign aid, but on the condition that they never attempt another invasion, and to drive the point home, sever half of their military, reducing their manpower by 50%. Despite the hidden rain's blatant loss, the hidden grass didn't leave unscathed, either.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was hardly a man that resented being wrong, but for the good of the village, he had hoped desperately to be right about this matter, but it still hadn't stopped him from sending his ANBU black ops team that specialised in stealth operations on a possible one-way mission to the hidden sand to retrieve data and information that could either prove Naruto or the Hokage wrong. With specialised communication seals salvaged from the ruins of the hidden whirlpool, they were to report the Intel exactly where it was found, and at the discretion of the Hokage, leave when ordered.

The fact of the matter, however, was that this needed to be done in utmost secrecy. The ANBU were instructed to destroy themselves if their covers blew. If the hidden sand ever found out that the hidden leaf was onto them, that could very well be grounds for another war in the worst case scenario. The best case scenario, however, would be that the hidden sand would demand reparations, something that they definitely would do, considering their recent recession.

The hidden sand could also have made their own alliance with an unknown entity, such that their invasion might even succeed, but it was all in the hands of the ANBU black ops squad to dig up, now.

Unfortunately, his pupil was right. Intel gathered from the ANBU black ops squad did indeed suggest that they were preparing for an invasion, but it was to be done in tandem with another third party, which unfortunately couldn't be deduced as to what this third party really represented. Out of this one lesson with his pupil, Hiruzen had been coerced to gather intelligence which would definitely allow his village to be more prepared for the upcoming invasion, one that would be scheduled to be in the final phase of the Chunin exam. With their Jinchuriki at the ready, the hidden sand was prepared to strike, like a cornered cobra.

Until then, however, the prime directive was to pretend to know nothing. The best way to deal with a trap was to spring it, knowing what would come, but preparing for it such that the one who set the trap suffers the full brunt of it.

The Hokage was ready, now more than ever. The Chunin exam would be in a few weeks' time, and when it would come, they would be ready to fend off any intruders.

Despite all this, Hiruzen just couldn't seem to stop his hands from tremoring. His age had definitely caught up with him, and he knew that himself. This might just be his last battle where he'd still be in office, or maybe even alive. Finding a successor was secondary, however. The village always comes first, anyways.

* * *

Miraculously, the bridge that Tazuna had scheduled to be done in five days had, with the help of a certain Kunoichi, just about to be done, and with two and a half days to spare. The entire team 7 had gathered on the bridge, watching over Tazuna while their resident Kunoichi did the heavy work. Naruto and Sasuke were taking a break, in the order of their sensei. They had both been working tirelessly the past few days doing nothing but ninjutsu training. Naruto had also done some earth-release training on the side, just so he could test out a combo he had conceived before going to sleep once.

Sasuke had begun to move out of his comfort zone by using the fire-release in conjunction with his taijutsu, while Naruto had been working on cutting wind techniques which utilised wind-based chakra to deal slicing blows from far distances. Needless to say, large portions of the Wave forests were cut before he had properly mastered the technique. However, Kakashi had not neglected to teach any of them Jutsu which would strengthen their Bukijutsu. Their weapons could be imbued with elementally transformed chakra to provide more damage.

Of course, after all, this, Kakashi had demanded that none of them trains any further. Mastering a ninjutsu usually requires breaks, and during these breaks, a ninja was to continuously visualise their newly learned ninjutsu.

The wind blew softly at the still lake. The stillness of the lake definitely betrayed the name of the country which the lake was situated in, but it did give Kakashi an eery feeling that something was about to happen.

Kakashi was seldom wrong about his hunches, and not long after, the part of the bridge connected to land was crowded by thugs and bandits. Behind this crowd, however, came a man shorter than any of the three genin that was each twelve years old. He wore circular shades and had a black suit. His hair was long and rough, which contradicted his otherwise smart attire.

It was Gatou the shipping magnate.

"I don't know who you guys are, and frankly, I don't give a fuck. Just get the hell out of our way and we'll get this done quickly, eh?" offered Gatou. Kakashi pocketed his novel and stood straight.

"Did your dad let you play with his suit or something? How old are you?" asked Kakashi, acting the role of the aggressor. _Bad move_ thought Gatou's retainers. The man's face grew increasingly red.

"I could literally rip your fucking children's testicles off, fry them, and serve them to you on a silver plate, and you know what? You'd eat them. I will fucking haunt you, you one-eyed lanky piece of shit. This is the first, and the last time you'll ever belittle me, you fucking imbecile," snapped Gatou, barraging Kakashi with insults.

"'Belittle?' That's a funny choice of a word, really. Funny you should say that, though… I think god already belittled you… literally," replied Kakashi. Gatou pulled out his shades in pure anger, crushing them within his palm before throwing it down. Kakashi, though, still had more to say.

"I don't have children, though, but even if I did, they'd still be taller than you," he continued.

"ZABUZA, YOU LAZY PIECE OF SHIT, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" yelled Gatou in his blind rage. In the blink of an eye, Zabuza materialised right in front of him in the extreme speed body flicker technique.

"Gatou, I've had enough of you. I just came here to tell you this. One, you have no money, so you can't pay me. Before you ask, I took the money, check your bank balance. Two, I've come to kill you, and anyone who wishes to stop me from doing so," ranted Zabuza. Gatou's retainers, upon hearing this, raised their katanas in preparing. Before they could even approach Zabuza a single foot forward, four senbon were hurled to their necks, two for each. Both fell down, unconscious as a result.

Zabuza pulled out his Kubikiribocho slowly with his right hand, and his left hand he raised two fingers and rotated his hand sideways, directly in front of his face. The whole crowd that was behind Gatou now cowered in fear at the Demon of the Bloody Mist and his killing intent. The Kubikiribocho was now unsheathed, and with a vengeful demeanour, brought the giant blade down vertically. Gatou's wild scream was cut short as he fell apart. He was cut into two parts from the head downwards, and not a moment passed before Zabuza's feet were drenched in the pool of blood that came from Gatou's gruesome corpse.

All the while, team 7 observed in utter confusion. Zabuza turned around before walking casually towards Kakashi, now with his blade sheathed on his back. Kakashi had also relaxed his guard, knowing what had just occurred. Missing-nin weren't always to be trusted if they weren't paid adequately, but Gatou had learned that the hard way, and when an assassin had no payment, they also had no targets.

"Hey, one-eye. I guess I owe ya an explanation, don't I? The guy pisses me off, end of the story. He's a really rich man, but I've taken everything he owns," he dug into his pocket, pulling out a sleek paper that turned out to be a cheque. "I suppose this might pay for the old bridge builder's mission fee," suggested Zabuza. Kakashi accepted the cheque, much to the three genin's confusion. Naruto couldn't resist butting in. A body-flicker and a millisecond later, Naruto appeared before Zabuza.

"Care to explain just what the ever-loving fuck just happened?" asked Naruto, more annoyed over the fact that he didn't get to fight. Zabuza replied, disgruntled.

"Let me make it clear. I fuckin' hate that bleeding pile of flesh back there, and what I don't like is dying, so why the fuck should I listen to that short fuck, and throw my life away by fighting you lot?" he asked, effectively shutting down any more need for explanation. "Here's this. I'm giving you money, something I'm not obligated to do, so why dontcha accept it and move on with your life?" continued Zabuza. Haku appeared next to the man shortly after, with his mask still on.

"Well if it isn't the 'hunter-nin'," mumbled Naruto.

"I'd like to thank you for your cooperation and emphasise that we are no longer enemies," he removed his mask, revealing a strikingly effeminate face, topped with long hair. "We must get going, although I hope that we may still remain allies when the time comes. We only needed this disgusting man's money to fund our rebellion to topple our inept Mizukage, Yagura. In other words, our work is done here. I wish you luck on your journey, leaf ninja," finished Haku. Kakashi simply scratched the back of his head in pseudo-modesty.

"Ah, I'm at a loss for words, really," revealed Kakashi. The workers, who were all on the opposite end of the bridge, rejoiced as they were no longer in danger. Throwing their tools in the air in relief, they yelled celebratorily. "Good luck on your rebellion," said Kakashi, waving at the departing duo.

The workers eventually finished the bridge on the same day, and luckily, Tazuna now had a way to pay the leaf-nin outside of his own pocket, using Gatou's illicitly acquired money. Before sending the leaf-nin off, he had a small party, which ended with them naming the bridge 'The misty leaf' after the missing mist-nin and the leaf-nin. Kakashi loved the idea, but his genin team weren't too interested.

"Kakashi-sensei, when are we leaving?" asked Sakura, ready to leave the place now more than ever. The three genin were assembled closely to him, within the radius of a smoke bomb.

"Now," he replied, detonating a smoke bomb. In the midst of the confusion, he had grabbed all his students, rushing them out of the general vicinity before the smoke cleared. The people were left dumbstruck, more so than the three genin, who were rather grateful to their teacher.

"Thanks, sensei. I was beginning to wonder when we'd get the hell out of there," commented Sasuke.

"I'll have to agree with Sasuke on that one. This place was really getting boring, anyways," added Naruto. "I can't wait to get back to the village to collect our pay," exclaimed Naruto.

"I dunno, guys, I think we should take it a bit easy," complained Sakura. Kakashi liked that idea, though, and thus, the rest of their journey was spent walking, taking their time to allow Sakura to recover from the exhaustion that came with her training.

* * *

Hidden Sand – Kazekage's quarters

 _Gaara~, Gaara~. Let's kill someone!_ Was the same thing that kept on repeating inside of his head, over and over and over.

"…but remember, Gaara. You are not to make a single move unless told so…" ordered Baki, Gaara's squad team leader, not that Gaara paid much attention to him. Inside his head was an itch, directly in his brain. The itch wouldn't go away. It kept on enticing him to kill, as though the blood of his victims would ease the itch.

 _Kill, kill, kill, kill_ sounded inside his head. Gaara had long-since learned how to ignore the voices, but every now and then, he would listen to what it had to say.

"Gaara, are you even listening?! Alright, how about this? Once you are given the order, you are allowed to kill whomever you please," tried Baki. The word kill attracted Gaara's attention like a moth to light. Inside Gaara bubbled a hotpot of excitement. The word 'kill' kept on repeating inside his head in a crescendo.

 _Kill, kill, kill, kill, KILL, KILL, KIIIIIIIIIILL!_

It was there that he released it, or rather, his tailed beast released it. It was a wave of chakra that continuously poured out of Gaara, cascading violently. It took the suna guards their everything to not fall to the ground because of the oppressive chakra. His siblings didn't mind, as they were used to the poison chakra. Baki had also resisted the chakra.

"Way to get his attention am I right?" joked Kankuro, Gaara's elder brother, the puppet master.

"Shut up, Kankuro," scolded Temari, the eldest of the three siblings. By now, the voices inside Gaara's head began whispering 'Kill', faintly but repeatedly. His clarity came back to him, and he was now able to concentrate.

"I understand," he stated in acknowledgement. Baki gave a ghost of a smile at his minor success but continued the mission briefing. Gaara couldn't care less about anything that man had to say. Shukaku was still tugging at his brain, coercing him to kill everyone in the room in a bloody rampage, but Gaara knew better.

He couldn't dare oppose the Kazekage, his father Raasa, the only man in the entire village that was stronger than him. The last time an assassin was sent his way was weeks ago, and Gaara had come to miss the iron-like smell of blood by now. Little to his knowledge was that this was done deliberately to increase Gaara's bloodlust, in order to maximise his blood thirst when the time came. The kazekage could be called many things, but one thing he definitely was, was a tactical genius.

The gourd containing all his sand was beginning to circulate within the container. It commonly happened whenever Gaara became excited. The best thing about it was that it was not possible for anyone to detect it, and he could mould his emotions into the sand, without anyone seeing it. The gourd was his little enclosure of emotions.

* * *

Team 7 had returned from their long trek ranging from the Land of Waves all the way to Konoha. Naturally, their missions still weren't finished. Not before they hand in their mission forms. The three genin had wasted no time in filling them in before taking a deserved rest.

"Here," mumbled Naruto as he handed his form to the secretary. Sasuke and Sakura did the same.

"Oh, Mr Naruto, Lord Hokage wishes to speak to you. He told me to relay that to you," she informed Naruto with a smile. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't know you were that cozy with the Hokage," muttered Sasuke under his breath.

"Hokage…? Naruto, what does the Hokage want with you?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure, could be quite a few things, though I don't really know," replied Naruto, genuinely ignorant as to what the Hokage wanted with Naruto. "Guess I better go," said Naruto before walking out of the building, and a split second later, vanishing out of sight.

The Hokage's building wasn't too far away, so he did end up there at a relatively quick pace at around one minute. He walked up the stairs of the building, too the Hokage's office. He knocked twice before walking in.

"Honestly, Naruto, you didn't even let me allow you in. You should be ashamed of yourself," scolded the Hokage. Naruto shrugged.

"Does it matter?" he asked.

"Well… at this point, I guess not," replied the Hokage. Naruto sat on the chair in front of the Hokage's desk.

"So, what's the matter?" asked Naruto, wanting to know what the old man had called him for.

"Remember your… suspicion about how the hidden sand was in a position desperate enough to want to attack us?" asked the Hokage. Naruto's interest in this conversation suddenly spiked. He grinned faintly.

"…I was right, wasn't I?" taunted Naruto. The Hokage let out a sigh.

"The next Chunin exams are going to be held in the leaf village. They don't know that we know, so we better keep it that way. If the time comes, we'll have to utilise _your_ raw power to hold our own against their own Jinchuriki. I trust in your strength fully and wholly," stated the Hokage.

"I was right, then. So who's the third party?" asked Naruto, much to the Hokage's surprise.

"Either my intelligence archive security is exceedingly lax, or you're too clever for your own good. We haven't discerned who the third party is, and frankly, this could prove very detrimental to our efforts, but nonetheless, we are somewhat prepared.

"However, I called you here for one reason. Tell no one, not even your 'friends', about this whole thing. Operation Sand Shield will remain a secret until it will become declassified, years after my resignation. Only a select few know everything regarding this operation, and you aren't among them. Your nondisclosure is paramount," said the Hokage. Naruto frowned at the fact that he wasn't allowed to hear everything operation Sand Shield entailed, but kept his calm.

"You just came here to tell me not to tell anyone, didntcha?" realised Naruto.

"In case you haven't noticed, Naruto, you're a ninja, a shinobi of the hidden leaf. Secrecy is pretty much our schtick," replied the Hokage dryly. "Crying about how you're not allowed to see what the big people do upstairs won't help you at all, child, so I suggest you obey my orders unconditionally," added the Hokage.

"You think I'm some kinda two-bit genin fodder-"

"ENOUGH! You will not jeopardise this operation due to your own emotions! Grow up, Naruto! With that attitude, you'll never become the Hokage," the Hokage snapped. Naruto stood up abruptly, pushing his chair backwards, breaking it in the process. Naruto, too, had snapped. A small shroud of a red gaseous substance oozed out of the boy.

"I'll show you just how much I can become the Hokage," spat Naruto, his calm voice betraying his emotional state. The Hokage sighed, disappointed.

"You lash out at the first sign of confrontation. With an attitude like that, how are you capable of leading anyone? You think you're so much stronger than everyone just because of that cursed fox spirit's chakra. My child, the world is bigger than you can comprehend. You aren't even the strongest person in this room, much less this entire village," stated the Hokage. Naruto calmed down gradually, the red chakra no longer oozing out. Looking back at the chair he had unintentionally destroyed, he bowed to the Hokage shortly.

"I'll get it replaced," he declared solemnly. "And as for my non-disclosure: I will keep the secret," conceded Naruto. The Hokage grinned faintly, closing his eyes in relief.

"I appreciate it," replied the Hokage. Naruto took his leave shortly, heading to his apartment now since it was getting dark and he needed his sleep.

* * *

Team 7 assembled once again in Kakashi's favourite place to be, training ground 3.

"Alright, first thing in the agenda: missions," stated Kakashi. "Only this time, we'll spice things up a little. I mean, when my cute students set out for a C-rank, but ended up doing an A-rank and surviving, that does, indeed warrant an upgrade, doesn't it?" said Kakashi gleefully.

"So are we doing a B-rank?" asked Naruto, expectantly.

"Close, we're doing an A-rank again. Fun times, right?" exclaimed Kakashi, much to Sakura's horror.

"B-but we're not Jonin level! We can't be expected to do A-ranks, can we?!" protested Sakura. Naruto, however, couldn't resist grinning.

"What's the mission?!" asked Naruto, excitedly. Sasuke was also somewhat surprised at the revelation.

"Yeah, what are we up to?" asked Sasuke.

"We're hunting chakra-mutations!" revealed Kakashi.

"Wait, animals are within C-rank scope, right? Or don't tell me that these animals are something else," Sakura couldn't imagine what 'something else' could mean, so she didn't make an attempt to.

"Chakra-mutations are like animals, but they can use chakra, only in extremely crude ways," informed Kakashi. "They only know how to enforce their body with it, but they're many, and that's why it's A-ranked," stated Kakashi.

"Uhm, quick question, sensei. Why are we doing this?" asked Sasuke.

"It's fun, no?" asked Kakashi. Apparently 'fun' was very subjective, especially when it comes to Kakashi. Nevertheless, Kakashi handed out the mission fliers and set out towards the outskirts of the Konoha forest. Not long afterwards, the team found themselves stepping into a terrain that was different from the regular forested look of the Konoha forest.

The grass there was a dark indigo hue, and the tree leaves were red. The clearing was as large as training ground 3.

"Here we are. You'll be fighting til…" he checked his pocket watch "…erm… you can stop when the sun goes down," said Kakashi. The three genin didn't know what to expect, really. Once Kakashi had disappeared from the clearing, the shrubs were beginning to make noises. Out from one of the shrubs jumped a wolf, only that this particular wolf's circulatory system was bright blue, visible by the naked eye.

The wolf lunged at Sakura, but to her fortune, Sasuke had managed to stab the wolf with his Kunai, getting the wounded wolf to jump away in pain. The wound, however, quickly closed up, showing a newly formed scar.

"Fuck me, this thing is crazy," swore Naruto as he viewed the whole process in disbelief. _That's just like me!_ He thought.

"Sasuke, use fire-release!" yelled Naruto. Sasuke made the tiger seal.

"Fire-release, fireball Jutsu!" he shouted, spitting out a great fireball from his mouth, targeted directly at t he lonesome wolf. When the smoke cleared, the wolf was charred to its bone.

"Alright, a few things we've learned. Ninjutsu is the only thing that'll work on them," observed Naruto. Not a moment later, a pack of those feral chakra-wolves jumped out of the forest and into the clearing. Sasuke took the vanguard, snuffing frontline out with his fireball Jutsu. Naruto bought Sasuke time by blowing the wolves back, such that Sasuke could take the rear out with a fireball.

Sakura was back to back with the two boys, using her chakra enforced fists to kill the wolves with surgical precision. The more she did so, the more she realised how to optimise her chakra usage to maximise the destructive force. She tried applying a surge of chakra upon contact with a wolf, and the results were explosive. The wolf that she defeated had been completely obliterated, but the chakra usage was too much to do so continuously, so she resorted to taking the wolves out using her previous method.

Naruto, having seen Sakura obliterate the wolf, took the information into account. The wolf onslaught had faded down, and the clearing was now silent, reeking of the corpses of hundreds of wolves.

"This isn't the end, guys. Not by a long-shot," warned Sasuke, and he was right. Tremendous and rapid footsteps were heard, coming closer and closer towards the clearing, until a giant chakra wolf jumped into the fray. It sized its prey up, waiting for the right time to pounce.

"Sasuke," whispered Naruto. "Metal dome," he hinted. Sasuke grinned smugly, anticipating the moment.

"Earth release! Earth Dome Jutsu!" yelled Naruto. A rough and jagged earth-dome sprung out of the ground, encapsulating the giant wolf. Naruto had no affinity for earth, but that hadn't stopped him from trying his hardest to learn the Jutsu. Besides, he had to see whether this would work. It was Sasuke's turn, now.

"Fire release! Great flamethrower Jutsu!" yelled Sasuke, letting out a continuous stream of fire from his mouth. The earth began solidifying more and more, becoming metal in the process. When the stream ended, the earth dome was now a rather rough hybrid of an earth and metal dome.

"Sakura, blow it all to bits," ordered Naruto.

"Huh? Oh, that thing? I'll try, but don't expect much," was all Sakura had to say before going for the kill. She pulled her arm back, as well as her body, applying chakra in key areas necessary for her punch. A split second later, Sakura threw the punch into the dome, using most of her chakra reserve in the process. The place she had attempted the punch wasn't even scratched, though.

"Oh, come on. You totally obliterated that wolf, I saw it!" complained Naruto. "Or… do you take me for some fool? Try again!" ordered Naruto, disgruntled by the less-than-satisfactory display. Sakura had few words, though, for she had poured her everything into that punch.

"I threw most of my chakra into that punch! I can't do it again, I'm all spent!" protested Sakura. Sasuke noticed something was fishy, though. He approached the back of the huge dome that housed the wolf and marvelled at Sakura's destructive power. She had managed to push the impact through the initial point of contact, destroyed the wolf that was kept inside the dome, and obliterated the backside of the dome, showing a bloody mess of wolf entrails.

"Uhm, guys, you might want to see this," hinted Sasuke. Naruto let his conflict with Sakura go, in favour of seeing whatever Sasuke was so excited about. Approaching the back of the dome, Naruto was met with quite a pleasant sight.

"Sakura… I apologise," Naruto was hardly upset about having to apologise but more excited over Sakura's show in strength. "And to think someone like you could pull this off. One question, though… how, exactly?" asked Naruto. Sakura exhaled slowly.

"I focused the required amount of chakra on my fist and did a quick chakra surge on the surface of my knuckles at the exact time that I made contact with the dome. It's really hard, and I don't think any of you could do it, what with your large chakra reserves negating fine chakra control," revealed Sakura. "I think I need to lay down for a while," she said faintly, falling downwards in the process. Sasuke had caught her before she fell on the ground. Sakura was asleep at this point. She had used too much chakra and was so close to getting chakra-exhausted. She took measures to avoid that, though, so a single night's rest would be enough to rejuvenate her.

By now, the sun had set, and their sensei had come back to greet them.

"Hi, my cute genin! So, how was the A-rank?" asked Kakashi, expectantly.

"Pretty fun, actually," grinned Sasuke, carrying Sakura on his back.

"Two A-ranks in a row, huh? I might just be able to move out of my crappy apartment," smiled Naruto. Kakashi smiled brightly, despite only his one eye showing, roughing his students' hair in the process.

"Attaboy. Well, judging by this weird metallic contraption, I'm guessing someone thought that it'd be hilarious to splice earth and fire, huh?" asked Kakashi.

"You got us," smiled Sasuke. Team 7 headed homewards, to the mission office to collect their pay, while Sakura would be in her bed, resting for the night.

* * *

 _Kakashi observing team 7 completing the mission_

"Hmm, what the hell is going on...?" asked Kakashi to no one but himself. Standing at the top of the tallest tree in the vicinity, he was observing his team destroy the wolves. "They were supposed to be at _least_ ten times this amount. They don't call it a damn A-rank for nothing..." observed Kakashi. _What could be repelling the rest of the wolves from jumping into the fray?_

Almost like an anvil to his head, Kakashi realised what exactly was happening.

"Huh... so the wolves are able to detect the malevolent chakra? That's something... They got off easy with this mission, but still... their teamwork is impressive!" said Kakashi. "I should stop talking to myself, this is getting sorta weird,".

* * *

"…and that makes around two hundred men, including the ones we already have contact with," summarised Haku. Zabuza held his chin, pondering.

"And what about those two numbskulls. The demon brothers Gozu and Meizu?" asked Zabuza. Haku halted for a second, before revealing the bad news.

"They're both dead. They were most likely killed during their ambush, seeing as how they haven't returned yet, while at the same time, the leaf-nin weren't even scratched," replied Haku.

The duo of the mist was in an abandoned storage warehouse in the outskirts of the Land of Water, just a stone throw from the notorious Kiri. They were currently discussing their manpower. Gatou's money, although astronomical in amount, hadn't gotten them too far. Money could by men, but not always skill. Zabuza learned that the hard way, now. The two hundred that Haku was talking about were none but a few missing nin who had defected from Kiri simply due to their leader's ineptitude, which has given rise to several theories stating that he was being controlled by a third party, one that was possibly in possession of the Sharingan.

"Fuck... what about Utakata, huh? Where the fuck is he?!" asked Zabuza, stressed by his circumstance.

"Nowhere to be found, but I don't think tussling with the six-tails Jinchuriki would do us any good, anyhow. Utakata defected for reasons not related to Yagura's pointless reign," informed Haku. Zabuza smashed his fist on his table, breaking it in the process.

"This rebellion... it's all gonna be for nought if we don't bring in some big guns...!" exclaimed Zabuza. As though she was summoned, a lady with auburn hair entered the abandoned warehouse. Haku detected her before Zabuza did, but he reached instinctively for his Kubikiribocho when he did detect her. The cover of the night did well to shroud her, preventing the two missing-nin from recognising her.

"No need to get hasty, Zabuza," she purred. Zabuza loosened the grip on his sword handle.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you here," admitted Zabuza.

"Let's just cut to the chase. I want in," she persisted. She was now close enough to the duo that they could see her clearly.

"Who am I to stop ya? The first thing I want to know, though, is this. What can _you_ provide for our efforts?" he asked.

"Manpower, and I mean actual manpower and not that gang of bumbling fools that just so happens to be missing-nin. I've also got the connections to arrange for a swift coup. The only thing I really need is _your_ fodder to back me up in case a civil war breaks out," she revealed. Haku, still wearing his mask, whistled impressed.

"As smart and clever as ever, huh, Mei Terumi?"

"Can you blame me for wanting to clean up my home?" she joked. Not a moment later, Ao, the head of the hunter-nin section of the local ANBU appeared right next to Mei.

"And look what the cat dragged in," observed Zabuza in a bored tone.

"Save it, you brute. I only want what is best for my village, but as long as that buffoon still reigns, count me out," replied Ao. Haku chuckled at what the man said.

"Calm down, everyone. Anyways, let's get to business, shall we?" declared Mei.

* * *

A/N:

A new chapter, and so fast :O.

This is for the one-monthlong hiatus. A double upload on the same week! (hey what'supguysitsscarcehere). I just couldn't NOT write! I've got so many ideas laid out in my head, and not writing them down will churn my brains into melon juice.

As always, follow, favorite and review if you liked this chapter, and due to popular demand, most of you guys seem to appreciate Gatou and his interactions with people. Therefore, for next chapter's bonus, I'll have him interact with any given character in the Narutoverse, which will be decided by YOU THA REVIEWER. And when I say that, I just mean I'll read suggestions and pick out the one I like the most.

And pick fun ones, like Kaguya, Hagoromo, Hashirama, idfk. I'll do my best to write them in.


	7. Enter the Chunin Exam 6: Gaara's arrival

_Chapter_ 6

Enter the Chunin Exam

Gaara of the desert

 _"_ I got enemies, _**got a lot of enemies**_. Got a lot of people tryna drain me of my energy _,"_

-Drake - Energy

::::::-/-\\-::::::::::::-/-\\-::::::

"…and that's…. around 300,000 Ryo!" concluded Naruto. He was in his shabby apartment, counting his exorbitant money, earned from the completion of two back-to-back A-ranked missions he was in. Although the latter was surprisingly easy, despite its A-rank difficulty, the former was definitely befitting of an A-rank mission, what with the jonin-level missing nin that Kakashi was forced to fight.

Naruto had just tallied his money, and after paying all of his living expenses, had a netted 300,000 Ryo. Feeling satisfied with himself, he headed out to the largest Konoha ninja general goods store. Needless to say, Naruto wasn't quite welcome in any store in the Konoha city centre. Naruto didn't care. He needed new gear didn't care if someone would disturb him.

Arriving at the general goods store, The Sharp Leaf, Naruto was greeted warmly by a doorman, one that most likely didn't recognize Naruto. Entering the store, he was met with alleys upon alleys of weapons and armour. Naruto only needed few things. A new suit as well as scores more projectiles was what he was looking for. Perhaps even a weapon, depending on whether it caught his eye. Naturally, entering the store required him to show his shinobi identification.

After a few minutes of browsing, he had found some new armour mesh which was both lighter and stronger than his previous one. He finally bought some quality kunai. After a few more minutes of browsing, a rather sleek-looking weapon had caught his eye. It was an extendable Bo staff which, judging by its product description, was specialised to fit wind-natured chakra. In its basic form, it was around seven inches long, but in its fully extended form, if its description was to be trusted, it could extend to up to two meters in length. Naruto headed straight to the cashier, now with his shopping cart filled with the required amenities. He tried checking out the products, now.

"A full brawler-nin set, twenty kunai, and a… excuse me, sir, but you can't have that unless you're a Chunin," explained the cashier. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Well why the hell not?" he asked, needing an answer.

"It's just regulations. You can't expect me to go against that," tried the cashier.

"Wha- You haven't even asked me if I am a Chunin yet!" defended Naruto. The cashier bowed down swiftly before asking, apologetically.

"Are you a Chunin?"

"Well… no," replied Naruto meekly. "Ya know… whatever," Naruto gave up, and left the Bo staff. Before he could go, however, a man caught his attention.

"Hey, kid, so you can't buy the Bo staff, right?" he asked. Naruto looked back, and saw Asuma Sarutobi, the Hokage's son. Naruto grinned.

"Apparently I need to be Chunin to get one. Could you…?" tried Naruto. Asuma simply whistled dismissively.

"Of course I can on one condition, though. You pay for it," stated Asuma determined. Naruto handed the jonin the money and waited as he went through with his own transaction, and afterwards, buying Naruto his item.

"A chakra flow weapon? For some reason, I'm not even surprised," he commented, smiling.

"The Chunin exams are tomorrow, and this weapon just looked really interesting so I couldn't really help myself," admitted Naruto. Asuma chuckled, his mood as light-hearted as ever.

"Alright, now, you fight well!" encouraged Asuma. Naruto nodded before turning around to leave.

Waving goodbye at Asuma, Naruto continued onwards, out of the store with all his items. Another person that followed suit was Sasuke, with his own set of items. Evidently, he also bought some new armour to wear below his regular clothes, projectiles/pros, and a ninjato. _Interesting_ Naruto thought.

He approached Sasuke casually, bumping into him lightly, getting his attention.

"Whaddya buy?" he asked, grinning.

"Stuff… armour, pros, and this ninjato. I got it for standard price, but the cashier told me that the weapon is only as strong as the wielder's chakra," informed Sasuke.

"A sword, huh? I never thought you were the type to play with swords," joked Naruto. Sasuke, as always, hardly laughed.

"What's that stick, though?" asked Sasuke, pointing at the shortened Bo staff.

"It's an… uh, a stick I guess?" pondered Naruto. Sasuke deadpanned.

"A Bo staff? Huh… interesting choice, really," mumbled Sasuke. "You experienced with one?" he asked again.

"Absolutely not. I might get the hang of it in no time, though, so it doesn't matter too much," dismissed Naruto.

"Keyword: Might," emphasized Sasuke.

"Oh please, like you're a goddamn swordsman of the mist," replied Naruto.

"Kenjutsu is a big part of the Uchiha fighting style. I know myself around when it comes to swinging a sword, so watch out," warned Sasuke, more as a humble brag than an actual threat, really.

"Anyways, Sasuke. When's our next team meeting? I didn't catch most of what Kakashi-sensei was saying before we were dismissed," admitted Naruto, with a sheepish grin. Sasuke simply sighed.

"This afternoon. We've still got things to prepare for. The Chunin exams are approaching, remember?" asked Sasuke.

"Oh, those things. Guess I better show up at the usual training ground, two hours earlier than him, right?" groaned Naruto.

"I don't think so. Sensei seemed really serious about having us come on time, since the Chunin exams are going to be a matter of life and death, and sensei can't afford to goof up," said Sasuke. Naruto nodded.

"We'll see," mumbled Naruto before bidding his comrade farewell. He was headed to his apartment to change into his new gear.

* * *

The executives of the rebellion of the mist were all assembled around a table in a dark room, where the table was illuminated by a single light bulb hanging above it. The demon of the mist, his companion and two insiders were all there, readying themselves.

"For the last fucking time, Terumi, we can't have my men attack the flank! It's an obvious trap!" swore Zabuza, hammering his fist at the table angrily. Terumi scoffed at his rage.

"It's a scare-tactic, you inbred ape. They make it look beefy so attackers are discouraged, but really it's the weakest part of the whole fortress!" exclaimed Terumi.

"We aren't dealing with a daimyo's castle. This is a Mizukage building, in a shinobi land! The flank is always the strongest part of any ninja stronghold!" yelled Zabuza back. Mei rubbed her forehead to quell her headache.

"Listen, just listen," she began, calmly. "This is the effect that they are trying to have on you. Second thoughts. This is what will mess this entire operation up! If you don't see through that obvious bullshit, then who the hell will?! Zabuza, think about it. You'll spare most of your troops if you attack the flank, and you will gain the upper hand by doing so. I've been working in that building all my childhood and I know this village's secrets. The village's flank is always the weakest zone," concluded Mei. Zabuza began shifting his eyes in calculation before coming to a conclusion.

"Fine, fuck it. But if this all goes to shit, then it's all on you, Terumi," conceded Zabuza. Ao raised his hand.

"Now that we're done with the petty squabble, why don't we turn our attention to something more pressing? Like how to secure the Mizukage once he actually begins resisting? Who here is strong enough to oppose the Mizukage in his strongest state?" he asked. Haku spoke up.

"No one here. But it doesn't matter, because we won't give him the time to collect his power. He will be subdued peacefully and once we manage to infiltrate the Mizukage building, we capture him and break him out of his trance," said Haku.

"Now that it's all settled, and my men are all ready, when does the party start?" asked Zabuza. Mei held her chin for a moment.

"In two days-time. Until then, orders are to stay low and do absolutely nothing but wait. Patience is of essence in this mission, and timing is key," reminded Mei to everyone listening.

"Very well," said Ao.

"Good shit," mumbled Zabuza.

"Perfect," said Haku.

"And now, we wait," said Mei.

* * *

"Alright, my cute genin, as you all know, tomorrow is the Chunin exam's first phase. Before you ask, yes, I have already declared all of you worthy of taking the exam. And as for your consents?" asked Kakashi.

"I'll do it," said Sasuke.

"Count me in," grinned Naruto.

"Fine, whatever," replied Sakura, after a moment of thinking. She was cursed to be in this team, which was too strong for her own good, but she hadn't the power to defy any of their wishes, so she was always reluctantly sucked into their antics.

"And you all know what that means?" he asked gleefully, expecting answers.

"Training?" replied both Naruto and Sasuke in unison, while Sakura crossed her arms.

"Correct," replied Kakashi. "Well, sure, you can train, but don't expect me to train any of you. From now on, until the end of the Chunin exams, you will all be completely independent, and all of your personal growth will be forced to be self-cultivated," revealed Kakashi, causing Sakura to gasp.

"…but- that's hardly fair!" complained Sakura.

"Life isn't fair, and a shinobi's life is much less so," he replied. Sakura wasn't satisfied.

"That's not a good answer! Are you really that lazy?! You arrived on time this one time! Just this once, and for what?! Telling us that we're gonna train by ourselves?! What's wrong with you, you're a horrible teacher! What kind of sensei are you?!" she ranted. Kakashi tried calming her down, raising his hands and pushing them gently.

"Relax, Sakura. Teaching you something new right now won't do any good, especially because of our timeframe. Just suck it up this one time. The Chunin exams are tomorrow, so if you know you've got nothing else to do, I suggest you rest," advised Kakashi. Sakura held any more potential arguments that she had.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Scurry on, then," said Kakashi, dismissing his team. Sakura, having waited for this opportunity, headed homewards in pursuit of rest. She definitely still needed it after those two A ranks she had done.

Naruto headed to the outskirts of Konoha to familiarize himself with his new weapon. After a few minutes, he arrived in a small clearing in the forest. He pulled out the shortened Bo staff from his holster before trying to extend it. He tried shaking it but it didn't work. Then he tried jerking it around in an attempt to push the long part out of the shortened staff, to no avail.

"Damn this thing's complicated," lamented Naruto. After a few minutes of trying, Naruto tried applying his chakra to the weapon this time. Almost in a flash, the Bo staff sprung outwards. The shortened staff had been held vertically, so when Naruto sprung it, the lower part of the staff dug itself into the soil. Naruto grinned triumphantly.

Naruto cut off the staff's chakra supply, shortening it once again. When he applied chakra, the staff extended. Another thing that Naruto had learned was how easy it was to push chakra into the staff. The staff didn't burn chakra. Instead, the chakra would enter the staff, and circulate around it before returning to the wielder resulting in absolutely no loss. This was something very useful, and reduced waste of chakra by 100%.

Now, Naruto tried wind transformation with the staff. After applying wind-natured chakra into the staff, Naruto swung it horizontally, towards the trees. A strong gust of wind blew towards it, but otherwise, the trees were unharmed. Naruto frowned.

"Tsk,"

He tried swinging the staff faster this time, trying to make the gust of wind sharper. To his joy, the trees were now cut, but only on the surface. The cut hadn't penetrated far enough. _Needs more chakra_ thought Naruto. He was afraid of destroying the staff, which was why he limited his chakra output, but now that he knew that the staff could withstand it, he applied twice the amount of chakra for another wind slice.

He swung his staff swiftly, directing it towards an unharmed tree. The wind sliced the tree cleanly, but it didn't harm any other tree beside it. Naruto grinned.

"This is fun," mumbled Naruto, chuckling.

Thus, he spent the rest of his day trying out various sorts of techniques using his Bo staff, and in the process, formulating a few techniques that he could use. Other than using his staff to throw wind-based attacks, he really had no proficiency when it came to staff fighting. He could overcome that by brute force, but it wouldn't be elegant. Dusk was approaching, but it was still bright, and Naruto grew sort of bored, so he decided to head to Ichiraku's ramen shop. The old man wasn't like the rest, and actually enjoyed Naruto's company.

He ordered two bowls and finished them relatively quickly before taking his leave. Along his path, a rather peculiar sight had met him. A hooded youth in a black jumpsuit was holding up Konohamaru, the Hokage's grandson. Naruto didn't interact too often with Konohamaru, but the boy still idolized him. He was flailing in the air, yelling at his assailant to let him go. Looking back, he saw Naruto, and regained hope. Both his friends had already ran towards Naruto, hiding behind him seeking protection.

"I told you to let me down. Now that big bro's here, you're dead!" laughed Konohamaru. The hooded youth got angrier, shaking Konohamaru in the air. Naruto was more than annoyed that someone felt the need to bully his minion. As he approached the youth, the headband symbol caught his eye. It was that of the hidden sand. _Bingo._

"Oh yeah? And what the hell is he gonna do?" asked the sand-nin. Behind him was a girl most likely his elder, with a giant metal pole on her back.

"Nothing much, really. Only if you don't put him down, though. If not…" Naruto pulled out the shortened staff, applied his chakra, and let it spring. "I just bought this thing this morning and I never thought I'd get to use it on something live so early on!" exclaimed Naruto, his eyes fixated on the hooded youth. The girl behind him reached for her own metal pole. Naruto, seeing this, felt the need to comment.

"Why don't we all just shake our sticks? Let me start," threatened Naruto. With great precision, Naruto used a clone jutsu, made it use the transformation technique to make it look like Konohamaru, and substituted it with the real one. Now that Konohamaru was out of the way, Naruto could indulge, but not too much. He needed to save his strength for his fight with the Jinchuriki. The kid in front of him sure as hell wasn't him, and neither was the girl. The Jinchuriki was somewhere, but not here. After a clone of his had evacuated the three children, it was go time.

Naruto struck first, swinging his staff at the hooded sand-nin, going for a wind slice. The blonde behind the boy leaped in front of him and pulled out the metal pole that turned out to be a giant fan. She blew against Naruto's slicing wind, neutralising it in the process.

Naruto whistled, impressed by her reflexes. He now held the pole horizontally, with both his hands. In a rowing motion, he pushed each end of the staff forwards circularly, starting out slowly. He accelerated at an unprecedented rate, sending small wind slices rapidly. The blonde girl used her fan to blow against the cuts. _Check mate_ she thought. _This kid will run out of chakra in no time, and when he does, he's finished!_ What she didn't predict was that the boy's chakra reserve outdid her own several hundred times over.

Naruto stopped, though. He didn't want to make it a battle of attrition; so instead, he aimed to overpower his opponents brutally. The hooded boy, sensing the opportunity, pulled out the bandaged bag he was carrying and released the bandages. The thing was apparently a compressed puppet, but now it seemed to be moving.

"Kankuro, go for his flank!" yelled Temari. Naruto sighed at the sheer stupidity of letting the opponent hear their battle strategy. With a quick clone summon, Naruto had a copy of himself watch his back in case of any flanking.

"Now it's my turn," she mumbled, sending out blasts of wind against Naruto, who did all that he could to block each and every wind attack. Naruto really wasn't trying too hard, but acted that way only so his assailant could lower her guard, not that he needed her to. It was just satisfying for him that his opponent plays the game that he was controlling.

Suddenly, Naruto's clone was dispelled. It was attacked in a way which it was too slow to react.

"Headshot," mumbled the hooded nin from behind Naruto. Right before another projectile could connect with the real Naruto, it got shot away by a shuriken. The thrower leaned against a tree, slowly unsheathing his ninjato. Naruto grinned triumphantly.

"Hehehe," chuckled Naruto, facing down the blonde girl. "Game, set and match!".

"What's all this, though?" asked Sasuke in his regularly calm and collected demeanour. Seeing the two enemy ninja, he grew a tad angrier. "As for you two, I suggest you leave. Else I will not be accountable for the lives that you both will lose at the hands of my colleague," threatened Sasuke.

"And who the hell are you? Do not underestimate us, 'leaf nin'. You are both weaklings, I can tell," taunted the hooded nin. The girl grew exasperated.

"Shut up, Kankuro!" she yelled, annoyed.

"Not now, Temari. Can't you see? Blondie over there is obviously retarded! A few more minutes of that dumb fight and he'd be chakra exhausted! We can take'em!" he yelled. Sasuke didn't give Kankuro any time to react, as he lunged for him, holding his Ninjato to his neck, a perfect chance to end his life in a single strike.

"Don't bother with that dumb puppet. If I even as much as sense that it's moving, I'll kill you," whispered Sasuke. Kankurou began sweating, and refused to move. Temari grew on guard. _Dammit, why did this monster show up?!_ She thought. Naruto approached Temari, slowly. Temari blew her fan towards Naruto, who redirected the wind stream upwards with relative ease. Surprised with himself, he realized a new way to counter the wind attacks. He could redirect them with his own wind, and leave himself untouched.

Temari almost began panicking, as she began attacking more frantically. Naruto got so close to her, she had to retreat. She jumped back, but Naruto followed. As he pulled out his kunai, he was ready to strike. A non-lethal hit, but if it came to it, the sand-nin were the aggressors, so Naruto was right to attack.

Just as the blade struck Temari, a screen of sand blocked the attack, separating him from her. On the other side, Kankuro had wiggled his finger, which had forced Sasuke to go for the slice, but instead, he simply sliced sand, and the hooded nin dematerialised into something that was most likely a sand clone.

A boy hung upside down from a tree branch using the tree walking technique. He had rings around his eyes, crimson red hair, and a giant gourd on his back. His arms were crossed, and his face signified pure anger.

"Temari," he said slowly. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, angrily. The girl was at a loss for words. Both the sand-nin had been saved by the red haired boy.

"Gaara…" began Temari, but she couldn't complete her sentence. Gaara disregarded her, and simply glared at the two leaf-nin who were both stronger than they looked. Both of them had managed to corner his siblings with ease. But the one that caught his eye the most was definitely the blond boy. He could feel his insides churn. Shukaku grew restless as he felt the boy's presence.

 _The nine tails! It's the nine tails! Kill him, flay him, burn him, bury him! It's the nine tails!_ Repeated Shukaku in a hoarse voice. Only Gaara could hear him, though.

The same line kept repeating inside his head, giving him a severe headache. He held his head in pain before deciding it was best to leave. He gave Naruto one last glare signifying pure and unbridled hatred and anger.

"Wow," mumbled Naruto. "What the hell was that about, anyways?" he asked to no one in particular. Not long afterwards, the three children returned, Konohamaru charging into Naruto, hugging him on his waistline.

"Thank you so much, big bro!" he yelled, all the while Naruto ruffled his hair. "Hey, no biggie. Besides, I just felt like trying the new weapon that your uncle bought me," he explained. Konohamaru jumped off of him, beaming with joy.

"Awesome! Can I hold it?" he asked. Naruto tossed the shortened staff towards Konohamaru who tried shaking it to extend it.

"Push your chakra into it," explained Naruto. Konohamaru tried doing so, causing the staff to extend slowly. The boy was grunting in his effort to extend the staff. Once it grew completely, Konohamaru held it up victoriously.

"Awesome, I'm just like my grandpa now!" he yelled, swinging it around wildly. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Grandpa? I've never seen the old man use a staff before," he replied. That stopped Konohamaru dead in his tracks.

"You haven't?! It's a summon called Enma, the monkey king! He turns it into a staff, and then back into a monkey at will! It's so awesome, I can't believe you haven't seen it!" he yelled. Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"I'll make it a point to see it one of these days," he noted. Sasuke was still confused by the situation, having only seen Naruto while he engaged both the sand-nin simultaneously.

"What were their problems?" he asked Naruto.

"Yeah, Konohamaru, how come you almost got your butt kicked?" he asked the boy, now frowning.

"Uh, well… Udon, Moegi and I were playing ninja, but I accidentally bumped into this 'Kankuro' guy. He got really angry so he picked me up and was gonna hurt me. I told my friends to run so I would be the only casualty because that's what a shinobi does. Luckily, you saved me, and your friend kicked that hooded guy's butt, so I'm fine, really," he confessed. Sasuke held his chin, pondering.

"That's a foolhardy thing if I've ever heard it. Targeting the Hokage's grandson… I'll say they got off lightly, seeing as how they weren't apprehended by ANBU black ops, yet," Sasuke mumbled the last part.

"Oh, and about the sand nin," Naruto pondered whether he should reveal anything regarding Operation Sand shield. Instead, he simply gave him a hint. "Just watch out for'em, and just so you know, that red haired kid's mine," he warned. Sasuke scoffed.

"He's all yours. Monsters attract monsters after all, right?" joked Sasuke. Naruto felt a small sting at the comment. He was used to getting called a monster, but that was mostly done due to the hatred people felt for the nine tails. He didn't like the word monster, but he didn't let it show that he was offended at all. Instead, he did his best to grin.

"You have no idea," mumbled Naruto.

* * *

"Temari, Kankuro, you are both disgraceful," stated Gaara, in his slow but thorough voice. They were both in their hotels that the hidden leaf had provided for them during their stay. The two offending sand-nin lowered their gazes in shame.

"He challenged our strength, Gaara," tried Kankuro. Gaara wasn't the type to shout. He rarely even spoke, but when he did, it was damn sure that people would listen.

"You dragged our name through the mud, Kankuro. You brought our village shame. As for you, Temari, I expected more from you," he growled.

"I understand, Gaara, and I acknowledge my mistake," she replied shortly.

"Whatever the case, there will be no more interactions with anyone until the first phase of the Chunin exams tomorrow," he ordered. "I will hear no more of this," he concluded, before sitting on his bed with both his arms crossed, staring at the wall.

 _That blond one,_ Gaara thought. _Nine tails…? What does any of this mean?_ The sand inside his gourd began swirling around more and more. Shukaku had finally calmed down, but he had still left an imprint. The sound of sand scrapping against a rough surface grew louder in a crescendo, sending the sound across the room, intensifying both Kankuro and Temari's nervousness.

* * *

A/N

Got a new chapter out. This one's shorter than the others, but eh, I can't always be writing 6k words for every chapter lol.

I feel that Temari's fight was donee moderately well. Naruto's already great at chakra control, so I figured that learning how to do nature transformations in conjunction with a chakra flow weapon would make sense. As for Sasuke, the guy's desperate for power, and would do anything to crawl his way, even if only an inch closer to Naruto's power level. He already does have a sword in Shippuuden, so a ninjato wouldn't really be a stretch.

And as for how Sasuke defeated Kankuro so easily, I always figured he was too arrogant for his own good, so he got caught off-guard underestimating his opponents. Naruto's battles have become too predictable, though, so writing them have become somewhat boring. Also, I hope I cleared up how he relates to the various characters in the series. Obviously he'd have good ties with the Sarutobi, so having Asuma help him wasn't too much of a stretch, I hope.

I always wondered how Shukaku and Kurama would interact. Sadly, I haven't really done any research on their relationship, so I'll wing it and say that they're on bad terms hehehe.

Anyways, I appreciate all reviews and be sure to follow and favorite the story if you liked it and want to see more content. I'm so happy that I've got so many people appreciating my story, it really warms my heart.

Guest review time!

Guest: i like this book

Thank you so much, guest. I like this 'book' too.

Guest: Kill yourself, virgin fag.

Easy there, guest. Don't cut yourself on that edge.

Guest:Yo keep doing what it doing but how do u explain. The Karama Confusion? ?

I dunno, brah. My mom asked me that this morning after reading chapter 3, but I had no answer. I told her to lay of the crack pipe, and finally her question started to make sense. Here's my answer:

Cinderblock

HEHEHEHEANYWAYS let's conclude this incoherent A/N hosted by urs truly, Sherlock D(ursley) Holmes

Sherlock D(andelion) Holmes


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